OUTER ISLES

- September 18, 2022

Hello from Northern Australia,

Our little grandson Noah is doing fine. He has a rather cute smile. Granny Nancy is flying up to Darwin tomorrow - and not half excited about that!

Kristy and Dean send regular photos and videos of Noah like this one below - the night Geelong Cats were playing the Brisbane Lions in an AFL Preliminary Final. Kristy grew up in Geelong - hence the Geelong beanie and scarf.

Recently Garngi Rangers conducted a biosecurity and fisheries boat patrol to the outer islands off Croker Island. Earlier this year we had discovered a large ghost net near McClure Island. The Australian Marine Safety Authority (AMSA) requested us to attach a GPS tracker to it just in case it floated off the reef at McClure Island and became a hazard to marine traffic. This tracker had stopped transmitting. AMSA asked us to confirm that the net was still at McClure and also try to re-start the tracker. The Google Earth image below shows the location of the net.

Below, we approached the net at low tide - about one metre of water around the net. We had had a few days of light winds which made the water quite clear.

Below, the tracker can be seen lying on the net. What can be seen of the net in this photo is only about a quarter of this ghost net. The rest is lying on the bottom and trails off to the right. While here we enjoyed observing the coral and fish around the net. A 3 metre shark cruised passed checking out our activity.

AMSA are planning to charter a barge to pickup a large number of ghost nets along the north coast from Groote Eylandt to the Tiwi Islands and then take them all to Darwin. They also requested that we conduct a survey of the waters around the net to discover if the water depth would allow a larger vessel to get within 200 metres of the net. The yellow line below represents 200 metres from the net. Each of the dots to the right of the line represent a photo taken of the GPS plotter on our boat. Each photo contains GPS location and depth information. At the point 200 metres from the net there would be 6 metres of water at high tide - which should be sufficient depth. We will have to run out the tow line with our ranger boat and attach it to the net.

The traditional owner (TO) who accompanied us requested to catch a few fish to take home. We hooked up a few tuna.

Below is the small, low island called New Year Island. If you look closely there is a lighthouse - well more a light tower.

Returning to McClure Island the TO wanted to check an old camp where there is a fresh water well. The coconut trees behind the beach are where the camp was. In the past, some illegal foreign fishermen have visited this site to re-supply their fresh water. We did see some human tracks here however we believe they were probably made be visiting yacht crews.

Nearby we noticed some turtle tracks. The rangers wanted to collect some turtle eggs to give to a local lady back at Minjilang who is battling cancer and undergoing chemotherapy. She had requested some turtle eggs.