The abundant marine life that calls Tathra Wharf home is being sampled and catalogued ahead of a planned rejuvenation of the heritage structure.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Scientists from the Australian Museum spent several days last week inspecting the wharf's piles and taking samples, with an eye on adding to their database of marine life and understanding of their behaviours.
The wharf itself is shortly to undergo a full restoration, the 160-year-old structure due for some much-needed TLC.
It's understood the council is going out to tender in coming days for the work that will see the piles replaced and deck repaired and renewed as part of a major restoration project planned for later this year.
While not part of the condition assessment process, and separate from the council's work, the visit from the marine scientists was nevertheless a welcomed collaboration as the council and community look to better their understanding of the wharf.
Dr Mandy Reid, malacology collection manager at the Australian Museum said she and her team had been approached late last year about a project to sample the marine fauna, a project that seriously piqued their scientific interest.
"Nick [from NGH consulting] contacted us and told us about this project going on at the wharf and that it might be a good opportunity for the Australian Museum's people to come and sample some of the fauna and see if we could add to the information that's known about the creatures living in and around the wharf.
"We're not part of the assessment process at all. We came down out of scientific interest because it's a opportunity to sample some fauna and perhaps add to the species list and the understanding about the wharf giving it's been here for such a long time."
She said it was hoped they could continue to be involved as the restoration progresses to gain further understanding of the marine species living on the wharf and how they return once the new piles are installed.
The researchers' work could also help inform how marine fauna could be preserved and/or encouraged to return throughout the construction process.
No minor restoration
David Buckley, BVSC project engineer for the Tathra Wharf restoration, said while the 2016 east coast low damaged the wharf deck - which was quickly repaired - it was during the subsequent inspections that deterioration of the piles was identified by marine divers.
Multiple assessments and grant applications later, the council now had a "once in a generation" opportunity to address the structural issues of the heritage-listed wharf he said.
"It's the pylons, what sits on the pylons are the headstocks, then you've got girders sitting on the headstock and decking sitting on that - so much of that is at the end of its serviceable life.
"It does trigger what Heritage NSW calls a material change as so much of it is going to be replaced.
"But essentially the heritage conditions are that it be replaced like for like. It will all be new, but give it a couple of years in these conditions and it will look and feel the same, and that's the whole intent.
"The scale of the restoration is not minor," he said.
Citizen scientists to the fore
Mr Buckley said the issue of the marine ecology was placed front and centre for the project team by a member of the community, then-Bega High School captain Minka Waratah, an avid snorkeller.
"She was actually the first one to raise it with council, and said 'what was going to happen to all this unique and diverse and amazing sea life, what's the impact going to be on that?'.
"For me as a project manager looking at all the normal project risks and issues, approvals and constraints, the marine ecology hadn't really been flagged a key issue. She immediately put it front and foremost - most importantly very, very early in the design and development and approvals phase of the project."
Minka's input has since grown into the Tathra Wharf Group, a collective of community members keen to engage with the restoration project and its processes mitigating impacts on the marine ecology.
"There's a broader network now of both amateur and professional citizen scientists who are very interested and focused on this marine ecology," Mr Buckley said.
"Council has been working consultatively and collaboratively with this group and they've come up with many of the ideas what are now formalised as mitigation measures and locked into the Fisheries permit conditions for the project."
- More on the Tathra Wharf restoration project is available on the BVSC website here
So what lives under the wharf?
The team from the Australian Museum didn't have the best conditions for their dives given the recent storms and water at Tathra not having its usual crystal clarity.
However, in and around the wharf piles they found an abundance of life, from sponges and algae, to worms and sea squirts.
"Something that we do routinely at the Museum is sample the substrate that animals live in so things like algae, sponges and what not because inside those there's a whole little microcosm of worms, crustaceans, even little tiny cryptic fishes that are into the kind of nitty-gritty detail of what's encrusting the wharf," Dr Reid said.
"Even though there's already a lot known about the fauna in this local area, part of our role at the Museum is to build our collections and also collect samples that are suitable for DNA sequencing."
Of particular interest they found an octopus inside a mussel shell and also little crabs inside several mussel shells, perhaps indicating some sort of symbiotic relationship.
"We were finding these little crabs that are inside the mussel shell - you break them open and there's a little crab that lives inside," Dr Reid said.
"There's a fellow back at the Museum who works on crustaceans and he was really interested to see those.
"The mussels are drawing water in over their gills and that's how they get their food. But then what the crab gets for free is that incoming current of food as well plus shelter - a mussel shell is a great place to hide away."
A lot of samples collected by the Australian Museum team will return with them to be further analysed and identified. They hope to be able to return throughout the wharf restoration project as well to continue their research.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:
Bookmark www.begadistrictnews.com.au
Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
Follow us on Twitter: @Bega_News
Follow us on Instagram: @begadistrictnews