The Elster Creek catchment is about 40 square kilometres in area. Most of the waterway is concreted except for the section in the Elsternwick Nature Reserve. It is here that we are putting in a hydrophone (underwater microphone) to listen out for the creek critters, near the Monash Bridge end..

Wishing you all fair (er) seas for 2022.

2020 and 2021 are a little bit Saltwater blurry as there were no fine ocean moments to punctuate our land days. We couldn’t even bring previous Saltwater partners, stakeholders, crew and supporters together as planned, to celebrate the terrific shared work-platform of Pelican1. We wanted to share many of the ocean dialogues inspired over 15 years and 85,000 nautical miles. We plan to hopefully do that this year! Thankfully, while travelling through the largely uncharted waters of 2021- Saltwater Projects managed to meet, plan and connect- even if only via Zoom.

Saltwater Projects was thrilled to be included in the list of finalists for the Marine and Coastal Awards 2020 for the Two Bays project.

‘The Victorian Marine and Coastal Awards 2020, are the first awards hosted by the Victorian Marine and Coastal Council (VMaCC) with the introduction of the Marine and Coastal Act 2018. The awards build on the history of the Victorian Coastal Awards, held since 2000, in celebrating the efforts and achievements of Victorians in protecting and enhancing coastal and marine environments.

The IPMEN 2020 conference , due to have been held in Hawai’i this year has been changed to 2021 though the new date may be challenged by the ongoing pandemic. it is good to know that many people behind the scenes are continuing to work on the strength of the network and hopefully a positive outcome from this global public health crisis will be a closer knit community of Ocean educators and custodians.

“People ask: Why should I care about the ocean? Because the ocean is the cornerstone of earth's life support system, it shapes climate and weather. It holds most of life on earth. 97% of earth's water is there. It's the blue heart of the planet — we should take care of our heart. It's what makes life possible for us. We still have a really good chance to make things better than they are. They won't get better unless we take the action and inspire others to do the same thing. No one is without power. Everybody has the capacity to do something.”
― Sylvia A. Earle

SALTWATER WISHES for the New Year
The joy on these primary school kids faces above sums up one of the reasons (and reward) as to why we create programs on Pelican1.

Saturday 23rd February 2019

Parks Victoria is delighted to invite you to join us aboard the SV Pelican 1 to participate in a variety of community monitoring activities at Mud Islands, Port Phillip Heads Marine National Park as a part of the Two Bays 2019 program. 

The day is focussed on encouraging greater community participation in Port Phillip’s marine protected areas and ongoing monitoring for these parks. 

The activities undertaken form part of the Sea Search Program developed for community monitoring in Victoria’s Marine National Parks and Marine Sanctuaries. Information collected through Sea Search is used to inform management as well as provide

IPMEN 2018 was hosted by the National Taiwan University, whose President Ching-Fong Chang was a representative organizer. Thanks too, to the great efforts of the Taiwan Marine Education Centre (and all the volunteers), led by Director, Cheng-Chien Chang.

I have been fortunate to participate in five IPMEN conferences over the last 12 years and each has been an enlightening experience. The conferences have developed a Pacific ocean-wide community of educators and participants, who come away with fresh insights into marine education from around the Pacific and deeper knowledge about the particular place that holds the conference. I was determined to travel to Taiwan, as Pelican1, the vessel we built and still work on, has a cultural affiliation to the home of migrating Austronesian people - these people built and traveled in the vessels that ended up settling across the entire Pacific Ocean. This wave of migration began over 3,500 years ago from Taiwan and nearby and our voyaging modern double-hulled catamaran was designed partly in homage to this history.

During our our marine education days, we often share the first principle of Ocean Literacy - The Earth has one big ocean with many features. No matter where we live- ocean connects us all and influences us. So it seems fitting that our project Two Bays is part of this first international book sharing ocean educational practices! Our chapter is called The Two Bays Project: A Model for Providing Multidisciplinary Approaches to Monitoring, Education, Engagement and Partnership Building and was co-written by myself (Natalie) and Harry Breidahl. 

We are at the half way mark for the Two Bays 2018 program.

The schedule for a program can include fairly long hours, unpredictable conditions and busy times when the boat is full. It is non-stop for this hardy crew and there is no way we could run the program without a solid team. 

Introducing the crew for this year.

The jetty at Black Rock is still not functioning for a Pelican pick up so the first day with the Kingston Koorie Mob started with a zodiac ride from shore to Pelican1. Nice way to get to a sea classroom.

Read further for the daily program.

Two Bays 2018 is due to begin during the late 2018 Summer season. This time is known to the Boonwurrung  as Weegabil nye-whiny or 'old man sun.'  The late Summer/ early Autumn Jas significance too for an animal that I am endlessly fascinated with. Many of our Iilk (Boonwurrung for 'eel') are beginning their long journey from our rivers to a very mysterious place in a deep part of the Coral Sea to breed.