SEA SHELL Triton Trumpet at Murray Island, QLD.

Rare on most of the Great Barrier Reef but plentiful near the border with New Guinea is the triton trumpet shell.

The location is Murray Island in the northern Coral Sea and one of the most beautiful islands in Australian territory.

Birthplace of the late Eddie Mabo; final resting place of the Albie Mangles yatch Greta Marie (destroyed in a leaking-gas cylinder explosion and resulting fire) and the home of this young man when he's not at boarding school in Townsville.

We were making a TV documentary with Ben Cropp at this location. The theme: "Locals diving for both lobster and turtles for their food". The triton shell find was interesting for me as they are so rare elsewhere.

My friend the late Dr Robert Endean studied the association between the popular collection of triton shells and the increased incidence of crown of thorns starfish, the live-coral predator which exploded in plagues decades ago, (and remain a serious periodic concern as Bob predicted). But over-shadowed by coral bleaching as a serious concern. Does this mean things are getting worse, faster?

At Port Douglas a 90 minute (at 16 knots or more) boat ride, each way, is required to reach the closest acceptable reef. The trip is worthwhile as the boats are first class. But what happens in the future? A three hour boat ride each way? Does Cooktown become the new Port Douglas?

Photo: John Harding/fathom

JH on 30.06.04 @ 06:15 AM AEST [link]

PETER BRISTOW with a baby spearfish

When gamefishing expert Captain Peter Bristow caught this tiny Long Nosed Spearfish off the Portuguese island of Madeira he described it as "the prettiest thing I have ever seen". Peter has seen a lot of pretty fish too.

The day before he caught (tagged and released) a 700 pound relative, the first spearfish of the season.

Peter and his mates Peter Wright and Dennis Wallace were the original black marlin gamefishing skippers who made Cairns, Queensland the prime big game fishing destination in the world.

Peter is 67 this year, (2004) and has 50 years experience with the sea. At present home is Madeira off Morocco. The ocean currents there bring whales, dolphin, tuna and billfish encounters described by experts as 'extraordinary opportunities' for both fishing and snorkeling.

While living at Cairns, Bristow played a significant part in sparking media interest which ultimately protected the unique family of potato cod that later became world famous.
Known as 'The Cod Hole' these fish are slowly leaving due to regulations that limit feeding them. Fish feeding situations unfortunately tend to 'get out of hand'.

The problems began when pair of former moray eels died whilst being forcefully 'relocated'. The move considered a necessity after a woman was seriously mauled by the largest eel, her arm requiring amputation.

The cod/grouper were also 'keen feeders'. Diver Dale Chapman once having his whole head 'mouthed' by one of these grouper. ("The lights suddenly went out" said Dale).

In our early days we met Peter Bristow and fellow pro fishermen Les Nash and Billy Lawler at North Stradbroke Island near Brisbane during our shark and surf film expedition for Surf Scene (a diving longboard surf documentary being filmed by Ron Taylor starring Russell Hughes, Robert Conneeley and Tanya Binning. The divers were Valerie Taylor and I).

In that era fishermen believed divers frightened the seafood away and were unfriendly to all skindivers, especially those with spearguns. For some years it was a mini war on the rocks until divers began using fast boats.

When we reported a big school of Spanish Mackerel at Flinders Reef, the professionals undertook the 30 mile ocean voyage up past Cape Moreton and made the effort worthwhile by catching a dozen each or more.

Our advice had been appreciated, a lasting friendship was established. I always felt welcome after that and still do.

Soon afterwards Peter Bristow moved north to Cairns and launched his gamefishing boat Avalon.

Later I filmed marlin and especially the underwater feeding pattern of a dozen 12 foot tiger sharks feasting on a 1006 pound black marlin, more unique today than ever as the big sharks have become either wary or fewer in number.

Highlights of the marlin jump footage appear in the Hollywood movie Islands in the Stream. The movie itself was a bit of a dud but we were well paid and gained much satisfaction from our combined efforts. Later Peter appeared on Japanese TV as an Australian Old Man of the Sea for a whisky commercial. He looks more suitable than ever for a remake of that role today.

(photo: Peter Bristow). www.fishmadeira.com


JH on 29.06.04 @ 08:26 AM AEST [link]

VALERIE TAYLOR at Ewen Ponds, South Australia. 1967

Valerie Taylor contemplates the 'near freezing' crystal clear fresh water spring known as Ewen Ponds in South Australia. Dressed in a short neoprene suit, no hood. The red stockings were for brighter photo's more than the little warmth offered.

We were making The Cave Divers film, sponsored by a tobacco company....erhh, (the only people with money to spare) and this location was included. I clicked what is now a photographic treasure with Valerie early in her new career as a 'mermaid'.

The picture has never been published, lost in a cabinet until now.

Few glamour girls enjoy wet hair and cold shivers. Valerie has made a profession of being wet and sometimes cold and coping with conditions few models would tolerate without a tantrum.

To be the world's best at anything in life is not going to be easy.


JH on 28.06.04 @ 12:03 PM AEST [link]

JH HISTORY Lobster JH and Vic Ley (1963) photo: Ron Taylor

Vic and I quit our jobs and were heading north for three months of diving with a rented timber boat, a tent and a 45 HP outboard motor. At Woolgoolga we picked up the 7 kg crayfish, (now known as rock lobster). It wasn't eaten. We sold it to the original porpoise pool at Tweed Heads (NSW) to help pay for travel costs.

By this stage we had another couple with us, Ron Taylor and his girlfriend Valerie. It was to be an amazing adventure.

I 'blacked-out' and almost drowned during a deep free dive, we speared fish, photographed sharks and sea snakes and camped on Nor' West Island where I developed 'coral poisioning' in my knee and could not walk or even stand up.

I was saved by the early return of "Riversong" and the later to be legend, Captain Wally G Muller of 'Coralita' charter boat fame in the Coral Sea.

For each of us it was an amazing adventure at a time with fewer people, less boats, more fish, more sharks. We became life-long friends too.

I did not return to ordinary work either. This was the beginning of a professional association with the new world of underwater photo journalism and documentary films.

Photo by Ron Taylor

JH on 27.06.04 @ 06:42 AM AEST [link]

SPEARFISHING ........white tip ate blue spot trout.

A large fish speared under the nose of a white tipped reef shark is an experience to remember, especially the first time it happens. Sharks obviously hear and feel vibrations sent from a fish in trouble and know this as a 'dinner invitation'.

The thrills commence when the shark initially thinks it's the snorkeler in trouble. Sometimes anxious moments develop. The diver may even poke the shark away with the empty speargun until Mr Shark wakes-up and smells the bleeding fish.

Experienced divers may 'fight the shark away'. Learners let the shark have a feed.

This blue spot trout became shark food and gave Port Douglas underwater model, Lynn Roberts an exciting moment to remember.

Photo John Harding/Australian Seafari)

JH on 26.06.04 @ 06:16 PM AEST [link]

CELEBRITY PET ........Ben Cropp's sea dog "Tuffy"

Little 'tuffy' is a watchdog 24/7 even out in the dinghy on the Great Barrier Reef. He lives in a waterfront home in North Queensland and never ever misses a trip out in the boat with his master, Ben Cropp.

Fearful he might slip over the side and not be able to climb back aboard, he was fitted with this special home-made 'doggie vest', just in case. More 'peace of mind' than a real necessity.

We may see 'tuff' in a family fun film one day. He has a super personality, a good memory for faces, yaps wildly at big fish and even sharks cruising nearby*, and voices concern when we leave to go diving.

The cat stays at home.

UPDATE: See Sept 27-29 Tiger shark pages. Little Tuffy was strangely silent when the three meter tiger shark was clamped onto the boat at Batt Reef! Local tourist operators in Port Douglas were quick to point out that a dog in a boat is not a good idea when sharks are around. Nor is the colour red a good idea.


Photo John Harding/fathom

JH on 26.06.04 @ 07:34 AM AEST [link]

JUST FOR FUN ....... Dean Cropp eating shark uw

Zane Grey was a true-life pulp fiction author of the 1930's. His speciality was paperback westerns. He enjoyed big game fishing for black marlin and sharks. His legendary visits to his holiday base at the fishing village of Bermagui (NSW south coast) is still spoken of today. He put the town 'on the map' some say.

Zane occasionally caught a white pointer shark while hoping for marlin. Being a talented writer, he called the white pointer the "maneater".

In time it became common for any dangerous shark to be called a 'maneater' or 'maneating' shark, in the common terms. Newspaper headlines enjoyed the term. "Maneater Caught" etc.

Side Show Alley capitalised with 'tongue-in-cheek' cheeky stunt to fool the people. A tent at the Sydney Royal Easter Show promised thrills inside: "See a MAN EATING SHARK"! No shark. Just a man seated, eating a plate of cooked shark and chips! A classic con.

Dean Cropp remembered the story and demonstrated with a live epaulette shark on the GBR last year. This shark was of course, not eaten, just 'mouthed'.

Photo: JH/fathom collection

JH on 25.06.04 @ 04:19 PM AEST [link]

SPEARFISHING........near extinct fish. Why?

Here is a beautiful picture of a Silver Drummer that has stood the test of time. But where have all the 'silvers' gone? These huge fish swam in schools by the hundreds, along the NSW coast. A weed-eater, with meters of smelly intestines - nobody ever considered eating one. A hotel snack bar in the City of Sydney minced 'silvers' salvaged from Alliman Shield monthly spearfishing comps and recycled them into tasty onion-enhanced fish cakes. Nobody else was known to eat them.

What became of the 'silvers' has never been studied or possibly even thought of. The great schools of fish vanished before marine science was aware of their plight. Spearfishing contests of today do not blindly waste fish as they did for so many years. It is a pity so many poor quality fish (cockies, cale, silvers, parrotfish) were speared, weighed, dumped for the ego of so few.

'Sandra' was the face of an underwater equipment company for several years. This picture appeared in "fathom" magazines #2 and #3

mtc (copyright 1971 JH/fathom collection)

JH on 25.06.04 @ 05:59 AM AEST [link]

SEASCAPE Ancient ship anchors on coral reef

Once, travel by sea in sailing ships through unchartered coral reef waters offered the chance to become seafood for sharks yourself. The northern shipwrecks like the twin anchors at Great Detached Reef just south of Raine Island are evidence of the Australian sea disasters of the 19th century.

This picture of exposed soft corals and twin anchors at low tide, was taken near our favourite part of the Great Barrier Reef during a filming expedition in the spring 2003.

In their time, a shipwreck like this was equal to an airline disaster of today. As the sailing ship was blown across the reef from the seaward side, anchors were thrown over but to no avail.

The ship was smashed to pieces by surf. Those who did survive were later eaten by cannibals on the mainland. Tough times indeed.

mtc (copyright 2004 by JH)

JH on 24.06.04 @ 08:46 PM AEST [link]

www.theJohnHarding.com

Mostly My Marine Photographs

Australian freelance photo-journalist; documentary film maker

Amazing underwater photographs from fathom (tm) library visual contacts with countless sharks, many shipwrecks, unusual sea creatures, and for variety - a few unrelated subjects.

All photographs and text is copyright, showcased here, (much for the first time). Available for commercial sale and research use for TV series, feature movies, museums, publications; exceptions are pictures credited to colleagues.


A site for understanding our evolution of diving and exploring especially of the sub-tropical Australian sea and exotic marine locations to the north.

E-MAIL: australianSeafari @ gmail.com





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JH on 24.06.04 @ 07:48 PM AEST [www.theJohnHarding.com">more..]