LET'S CREATE A NET FREE NORTH - 2018 MAGAZINE
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MAGAZINE
AUTUMN
2018 EXCLUSIVE MAGAZINE FOR WWF SUPPORTERS ISSUE 40
LET’S
CREATE
A NET
FREE NORTH
WILL YOU HELP WWF-AUSTRALIA time commercial gill net on the northern Reef. Your
help is needed to buy it – so we can immediately
BUY A DEADLY FISHING NET? protect Princess Charlotte Bay for dugongs and then
work to keep nets out of the rest of our northern Reef.
It’s key to creating a huge dugong refuge
in the northern Great Barrier Reef. Please donate to give dugongs, sharks,
dolphins, turtles and sawfish a safe future on
The northern Reef is home to 6,500 dugongs our northern Reef.
and a haven for vulnerable sharks, dolphins,
Your donation will be used to:
turtles and sawfish.
But without urgent action, this magnificent
ecosystem could be lost to the growing threat of Buy the last commercial gill net in Princess
1
commercial gill net fishing. Charlotte Bay, so we can turn this area into a
net free refuge for dugongs.
Gill nets hang like curtains in the sea, where they
can quickly catch and drown dugongs and other Advocate for the Queensland Government to
2
threatened marine life. create a Net Free North zone stretching from
Cape Flattery to the Torres Strait.
WWF-Australia is negotiating to buy the last full
DUGONGS
The net mostly operates in
Princess Charlotte Bay, where
there are particularly high
densities of dugongs and other
NEED YOU!
threatened animals.
By taking the net out of the
water, WWF-Australia can stop
the bay becoming a death trap
and instead establish this as a
385km2 safe haven for dugongs.
That would bring us closer to
creating a Net Free North zone
You have an amazing chance refuge for vulnerable sharks, across our northern Reef that
to help protect dugongs on turtles, dolphins and sawfish. will be larger than Tasmania!
our northern Reef. But this unique haven is under Please help WWF-Australia
threat – from huge commercial buy a net and turn our
These gentle mammals gill nets that entangle and drown northern Reef into a lasting
have swum in the Pacific all the marine creatures that refuge for dugongs and
and Indian Oceans for swim into them. other endangered marine
millennia, and play a key life that are struggling to
role in keeping coastal reefs Your help is urgently needed to
maintain their populations
and sea grasses healthy. buy the last full time commercial
elsewhere on the planet.
gill net on the northern Reef.
Sadly, today dugongs are dying
THIS IS HOW MUCH
out globally, threatened by
fishing pressures and the loss of
DEVASTATION
the sea grasses they feed on.
The northern Reef – where
6,500 dugongs still thrive –
is one of the very last refuges COMMERCIAL GILL
this species has.
NETTING CAN
CAUSE IN JUST
Because this remote region
has been relatively untouched
ONE YEAR:
by commercial net fishing
pressures, it’s also a global
© WWF-AUS / CHRISTINE HOF
LIVING PLANET MAGAZINE AUTUMN 2018
© WWF-AUS / LEIGH WIGLEY
THANK YOU FOR FIGHTING DONATE THE SMART WAY – DIRECT
FOR OUR NATURAL WONDER FROM YOUR PAY!
Some of my fondest memories as a kid Workplace giving lets you Ask your payroll officer
are of going snorkelling with my dad on donate from your pre- if your organisation has
the Great Barrier Reef. tax salary and get the tax workplace giving. If yes,
benefit straight away. Some nominate WWF-Australia
I was filled with awe at this magical
employers even match as your charity of choice.
underwater world and its huge array of
donations, so you can If not, your employer
brightly coloured sea creatures.
double your impact! just needs to contact
Today, I have that same sense of awe when our Workplace Giving
Workplace giving is a fun and
I go diving on the northern Reef – an area Coordinator, Saskia,
easy way to step up your support
that is still relatively untouched by commercial on 02 228 6808 or
for our natural world. You and
gill net fishing. sek@wwf.org.au.
your co-workers will get regular
It’s home to one of the world’s largest updates on how you’re helping,
© WWF-AUS / BONDI ADVERTISING
populations of dugongs, and a refuge for and enjoy exclusive privileges
threatened sharks, dolphins, turtles and such as talks from WWF-
sawfish. I’ll never forget standing on the deck Australia conservationists.
of a research boat and seeing a dugong
There are lots of other ways
mother and her calf swim right past. It was
to bring your passion for
such an incredible moment.
conservation to work. You
As you’ll read in this edition, can raise funds for threatened
species with a ‘Wear it Wild’
dugongs and their special eco- animal-inspired fancy dress
system on the northern Reef day, a fun run, office Olympics
or even boardroom yoga!
need urgent protection from
commercial gill nets.
That’s why I hope you’ll join with WWF-
Australia to create a Net Free North: an
85,000 km2 haven for dugongs and other
very vulnerable marine life.
Thank you for protecting our Reef for the
next generation of Australian kids.
DONATE NOW AT WWF.ORG.AU/LIVINGPLANET
© UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND / WWF-AUS
You’ve helped to prove a tiny Australian Museum scientists have
rock-wallaby is still alive on
confirmed some of those scats
are from the nabarlek – Australia’s
Western Australia’s mainland. second smallest rock-wallaby.
That’s a huge win for this gorgeous
They’re nocturnal, solitary, furry
species, which hasn’t been recorded
and about as long as a school
on the Western Australian mainland
ruler. And until recently, we
for more than 40 years.
thought the nabarlek was gone
from the Kimberley, apart from a Thank you for giving Australia’s
few offshore islands. smallest and most vulnerable
creatures a safe future.
But with your help, Indigenous
rangers have tracked down this You’re a legend!
unique Aussie marsupial in the
rugged far north Kimberley.
Through your support, rangers have
been collecting rock-wallaby scats
(or poo), known as ‘waadi’ in the
local Ununguu language.
AN APP TO SAVE THEYOUROCEANS
SUPPORT
You’re stamping out the illegal tuna industry – with smartphones.
MEANS WWF
Imagine if your smartphone could sustainable tuna on their
tell you if your tuna is ethically supermarket shelves.
CAN CONTINUE
sourced. That will soon be possible,
Thank you for standing up for
thanks to revolutionary ‘blockchain’
our oceans and against human
technology that you’ve helped
TO DEVELOP
rights abuses.
WWF-Australia and our partners
to develop.
© WWF-AUS / SHIRI RAM
It’s a secure digital record of where
and when a fish was caught, and TECHNOLOGY THAT
PROTECTS OUR
by which boat and fishing method.
And accessing it, will be as simple
NATURAL WORLD.
as scanning a tuna can with your
smartphone.
This ‘bait-to-plate transparency’ will
transform the industry, exposing those You make conservation
operators who use unsustainable breakthroughs possible –
fishing methods or who impose horrific
working conditions.
WWF-Australia is now looking for
a retail partner for the project, so
shoppers can start scanning for
EXCLUSIVE MAGAZINE FOR WWF SUPPORTERS ISSUE 40
HISTORIC HOMECOMING
© WWF-AUS / MORGAN CARDIFF
Eastern quolls return to the mainland thanks to you.
Thanks to the generosity of out of their boxes. To be there
passionate people like you, up close and personal was a
eastern quolls are once again hugely emotional experience.
living on the mainland for the
I was told by the Jervis Bay
first time in 50 years.
Rangers that their new home
On Wednesday 13 March, 20 had been cleared of introduced
eastern quolls made their historic predators such as foxes and cats,
homecoming to Jervis Bay. to give them their best chance of
building a thriving population.
The day began for our quolls
with a two-hour flight from It’s wonderful to see native
Tasmania and was followed by animals being cared for so well,
a quick check over by the vet when so many are under threat.”
upon landing. Finally, it was time
To all our supporters who made
for these little marsupials to be
this historic day possible, our
released into their new home.
most sincere thanks.
Liz Faul, a member of our
To become a Partner in
‘Partners in Conservation’
Conservation, and join us for
community, joined us as these
similarly exciting experiences,
beautiful spotted marsupials
please contact Debra Almeida
were released back into the wild:
at dalmeida@wwf.org.au or
“It was incredible seeing them run on 02 8228 6806.
YOU SWITCHED OFF TO
#CONNECT2EARTH
THIS YEAR MARKED A NEW
FOCUS FOR EARTH HOUR:
THE LINK BETWEEN CLIMATE
CHANGE AND THE DWINDLING
Thanks for joining passionate people across the globe BIODIVERSITY OF OUR PLANET.
to make Earth Hour 2018 a huge success.
You showed your determination to fight climate change and
our massive loss of species – by turning off the lights, turning
up at community events and taking to social media with the
#Connect2Earth hashtag.
Students across Australia learned more about the issues and
the ways they can make a difference in Earth Hour lessons. And
schools and businesses came together to assemble solar lights
for disadvantaged communities in Papua New Guinea.
Communities took part in Earth Hour through evening
walks, lantern parades and music concerts.
Supporters like you helped to launch Earth Hour in Sydney in 2007.
Today it’s the biggest environmental movement in the world, with
187 countries and territories, 7,000 cities and 3,100 landmarks
dimming their lights to show their support for the environment.
You’re part of an amazing community of climate change fighters.
LIVING PLANET MAGAZINE AUTUMN 2018
CAUGHT
© GREG & KATE BOURNE / WWF-AUS
© NATUREPL.COM / FRANCOIS SAVIGNY
ON CAMERA
MAGAZINE
AUTUMN
2018
LIVING PLANET – AUTUMN 2018
In a forest in the far HERE IN AUSTRALIA, SENSOR
northeastern corner of India, CAMERAS ARE KEY TO OUR
you helped spot a rare, FIGHT TO SECURE A SAFE
majestic snow leopard. FUTURE FOR 21 THREATENED
© MICHAEL MARRIOTT / WWF-AUS
The breakthrough sighting was NATIVE ANIMALS BY 2021.
made possible because of a
sensor camera funded by WWF They’ve confirmed a second
supporters like you. population of northern bettongs
These hidden cameras are near Port Douglas and shown
amazing conservation tools, the Northcliffe quokka
helping WWF teams around the population is rebounding after
world to track endangered animals devastating fires.
in some of the most remote parts The cameras will also be vital
of the world. as we track how captive-born
The cameras have caught newborn eastern quolls are settling in after
tiger cubs in a Thai forest and their historic move back to the
snapped the youngest of the Australian mainland.
world’s 67 Javan rhinos playing Thanks for not letting vulnerable
with her mum. animals out of your sight.
WHY I L VE MY JOB
How do you describe what you
1800 032 551 WWF.ORG.AU/LIVINGPLANET
do for a living?
I work to improve the
environmental performance
JIM HIGGS, Policy Manager - Great What’s the best bit about of fisheries and aquaculture
Barrier Reef fisheries, talks about your job? producers so future generations can
the mysteries of the ocean and why enjoy the same or better natural
With the panda behind you, you
he knows he can achieve big things environments that we do.
can make real changes!
with the panda behind him. What’s your fave animal/
WWF’s reputation for good science
bird/plant?
gets access to decision-makers.
COURTESY OF JIM HIGGS
As a fourth generation dairy
WWF’s size and experience
farmer, I have a soft spot for the
also makes big projects – like
Holstein cow. I also love green
buying a shark net licence in
turtles because they show how
2016 – possible.
we can change the
And the biggest challenge? trajectory of a species.
Balancing conservation needs with
the need to feed the planet.
Cover photos: © JÜRGEN FREUND / WWF
© ISTOCKPHOTO.COM / WWF
All photos from the WWF photographic library have been
kindly donated by photographers for WWF use, and cannot
be reproduced or provided to external parties.
www.fsc.org © 1996 Forest Stewardship Council
© 1986 panda symbol and ® WWF is a Registered Trademark
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WWF-Australia GPO Box 528 SYDNEY NSW 2001 1800 032 551 wwf.org.au
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