From Dr Vicki Karalis AM, President

Dearest Friends and Members of SFA

The Sandringham Foreshore Association sincerely thank you for your continued support
and
commitment over the year.
We wish you all a happy, joyful, safe and healthy holiday and festive season.

We are proud to have received a gold coin donation of over $320 from the Brighton
Beach Primary School as part of their Environmental Day!
After I gave the talk to the children about the Bayside fossils, I asked them how they
would like us to use the donation. All the children opted to
HELP KEEP OUR BEACHES CLEAN!
For this reason we decided to provide the donation to the Bayside Beach Patrol groups:
3186 Beach Patrol
3188 Beach Patrol
3191beachpatrol
 3193 Ricketts Point Beach Patrol

For more exciting news:

Fascinating rare 5 Million year old fossils of seal bones have been discovered at
the 2nd significant fossil in Bayside called Site B!

The Museums Victoria Palaeontology team recently published a paper featuring the
unique and rare fossil bones of the Pacific True Seal amongst many other exciting
fossils!

Please consider Museums Victoria as your charity of choice for your Christmas giving.
You will make a profound difference to the exploration and science of Bayside fossils.
For more details, please read below.
Thank you ✨
"We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the waters and lands on which we live
and work, and pay our respects to the Elders past, present and emerging”

Handing over the gold coin donation raised by the Brighton Beach Primary School
children. This money was donated to SFA. Based on the children's wishes to use the
money to keep the beaches clean, we decided to present the donation to the Bayside
 Beach Patrol groups. Above, Simon of Sandringham 3191 Beach Patrol, and present
members of the Hampton 3188 Beach Patrol.

The Bayside Beach Patrol groups work hard to keep our beaches clean. If you would like
to join the beach patrol groups, contact them through Facebook pages:
@Beach Patrol Australia
@3186 Beach Patrol
@3188 Beach Patrol
@3191beachpatrol
@ 3193 Ricketts Point Beach Patrol

Please join their next clean up on 29th January Half Moon Bay. For more details check
out the 3191 beachpatrol facebook page.

An interesting fact:
3191 BeachPatrol [Sandringham] volunteers have spent over 260 hours this year (2022)
removing 660kg of waste from the beach, including:
379 glass bottles
355 plastic bottles
401 drink cans
192 coffee cups
831 cigarette butts!!!

Above: Certificate of Appreciation created by the Bayside Beach Patrol groups

for the gold coin donation by Brighton Beach Primary School!
Exciting new fossil discoveries at Site B, Black Rock
- a 2nd significant fossil site in Bayside!

Images above from left to right:

 Beaumaris seal image with credit to Peter Trusler -the artist and copyright holder.
The two fossil bones about 5 million years old discovered at Site B in Bayside.

Museums Victoria Palaeontologists Dr Erich Fitzgerald and Dr James Rule have done it
again!
They recently published a paper featuring unique and rare fossil bones of the Pacific True Seal
bones found in Bayside!
The paper can be accessed by clicking on the link here: Black Rock pinniped fossils

Above are photos of the seal fossils found by Ben Francischelli at Site B, in Black Rock;
the 2nd secret significant fossil site in Bayside.
These fossils are also the latest evidence that Australasia was an important region true seal
evolution.

This research on the Lost World of Bayside is supported by Bayside City Council, Beaumaris
Motor Yacht Squadron, Sandringham Community Bank Branch of Bendigo Bank, Sandringham
Foreshore Association, Bayside Earth Sciences Society and generous community donations.

Melbourne's Bayside suburbs are home to the most important urban fossil sites in Australia.
Extraordinary fossils of prehistoric sharks, whales and other sea creatures provide a unique
window on Australia's oceans from 5 million years ago. Please consider a kind donation to the
Lost World of Bayside Fossils Project to help support the good work of the Museums
Victoria palaeontology team, and further the scientific exploration and research at the Bayside
fossil sites, by clicking here:
The Lost World of Bayside Fossils Project
(Donations are 100% tax deductible).

Your help in funding the surveying of these sites and the discovery of new fossils will help us
gain critical insights into the history of Australia's sea life, allowing us to better understand and
preserve these natural wonders.

The photos above are the fossils of the 5 million year Southern True seals (Monachines)
discovered by palaeontologist Ben Francischelli. These fossil are one of the finds from Site B in
Black Rock, Bayside.

True seals are currently thought to have originated in either the North Atlantic or Paratethys,
where they are known from multiple localities covering most of the Neogene (Berta et al., 2018).
However, in the North Pacific and the Global South, true seals are usually only known from very
few sites.

There are many more amazing fossil finds discovered by citizen scientists at Site B!
The fossils are housed at Museums Victoria -stay tuned for more exciting information next year.

Dr Erich Fitzgerald, Palaeontologist and Senior Curator, Vertebrate Palaeontology

at Museums Victoria with a Megalodon found at Beaumaris Bay
 Eradication of the Northern Sea Star
- if you see these invasive pests whilst out swimming or snorkeling over the summer
months, please read the article below what you can do to help us keep them under
control.

The Northern Pacific Starfish is a pest on our Bayside coastline reefs. Please contact us immediately if
you see any so we can contact the EcoCentre experts to help us eradicate them from our foreshore

News from Coastcare Victoria Port Phillip and Westernport Regional newsletter:

Why we need to stop the spread of the Northern Pacific Seastar?

Teams of volunteers of the Community Rapid Response Teams project have been training
to remove pest Northern Pacific Seastars (NPS) from the Bay. With help from divers from
Earthcare St Kilda and Diveline Scuba Centre, they collected citizen science data on more
than 3200 pest seastars!

The project is designed for Rapid Response Teams of local volunteers to respond to mass
aggregations of NPS in the Bay. If you see lots and lots of orangey-purple, 5-armed seastars
congregating on your favourite beach plotting to take over the world, please let us know
ASAP and activate your local Rapid Response Team.

To make it easier for people to organise their own pest seastar removals outside of any
projects, the EcoCentre is re-launching the updated 2013 manual 'Best Practice Guidelines
for NPS Removal in Port Phillip Bay, 2022'. It has practical tips on how to organise your own
removals, the things you need to know and prepare for before you go out, get in and get
amongst it, and a great pest seastar identification guide.

Download your free copy of the manual here and join your local Rapid Response Team
here. This project was funded by the Victorian Government, under the Port Phillip Bay Fund.
Article from Port Phillip EcoCentre.

Copyright: Sandringham Foreshore Association All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is: sandyforeshore@optusnet.com.au

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