Key role of Member Group:

To foster the study of marine life, promote education and public awareness of all life in the sea and to encourage the conservation and protection of South Australia's unique and beautiful marine environment.

Key Achievements and Activities for 2008/09:

• Lobbying government for the protection of the Western Blue groper and the Harlequin fish. We are also in the throes of producing a pamphlet that will educate divers & fishers on how to recognise the Western Blue Groper and therefore avoid taking it from the ocean.
• Regular talks to Community groups (1-2 per month)
• Publication of the only South Australian marine life calendar, used to educate the community & promote awareness of our unique marine life
• Participation in the process of the co-management of our Prawn Fisheries
• Active participation and support of Janine Baker's field surveys of SA's U I-S Demersal fishes
• Provision of a Marine Life photo index for public worldwide use
• Assisting the Leafy Sea Dragon Festival 2009, including the creation and provision of a website page for that festival.
• Continued program of the 'Jewels Of The Sea' (JOTS) kits for educating school children
• Participation in Reef Watch activities
• Support for the creation of wetlands within the Cheltenham racecourse precinct
• Ongoing support for the introduction of Marine Protected Areas (MPA's)
• Lobbying government against the construction of a Desal Plant at Point Lowly, Whyalla.
• Requested changes to the DEH 'Ewens Ponds CP Management Plan Amendment 2008'.

Identify three key environmental issues impacting on South Australia:

• 1. The runoff of storm-water into the Gulf of St Vincent, which is impacting the sea-grasses and therefore reducing fish habitat, as well as promoting sand movement up the Gulf.
• 2. The protection of the Western Blue groper and the Harlequin fish in SA waters.
• 3. Saving Ewens Ponds, which is a world-renowned tourist icon and habitat for several of Australia's threatened native freshwater fish, currently under threat from the effects of algal bloom believed to be caused primarily by nutrients entering the system from adjacent farmlands.