Venus Bay Inspired Art

The Last Pipi Harvest at Venus Bay

Mixed Media on Canvas
102 by 102cm
By Norm Hanson 2012
This is a story of anthropogenic extinction, as written into future stone. The ochre coloured sandstone [1] was at one time a thriving beach, brimming with life and specifically a prolific population of Donax Deltiodes, also known as Pipis or Surf clams. However the Pipis were so yummy and they were harvested in such numbers that fewer and fewer shells reached maturity each year. Then suddenly in one season, the entire population failed to reproduce. Worse the rich food chain of the beautiful beach collapsed, with their demise, and the once thriving beach became a pale version of itself. Only a few brave worm burrows [2] could be found. Then all signs of life disappeared [3].

This story need not come true.


The work was created first as a mould of the main units in the sand south of Beach one. This included leaving some of the worm burrow/air holes undisturbed. broken Pipis and other shells where collected nearby and scattered in the mould. The mould was filled with expanding polyurethane foam and cover with the canvas, burried and left to harden for an hour or so. The foam on canvas mould was next painted with several coats of sand, gesso and latex to create an absorbent sandstone like finish. Finally this was “stained” and painted with various oxides. It represents a future geological rock face, perhaps a few million years into our future. This rock face runs close to the bedding planes with the oldest layers, the ochre sandstone on the lower left, closest to you. You are looking "up" in time.

This work will be on display at the Mount View Art Show, 14th - 17th June 2012

Pipi Plunder continues

Just in case you missed the item on Channel 7 last night. Here is a link to their story (sorry about the ad at the start but that's the way Yahoo7 have set up the embed link).. There is a lot more to the story than is covered in this news item, and I agree the majority of recreation pipi collectors probably do following the guidelines. Clearly a massive amount of the beach is being turned over all day long in January (and that is a lot of work just to get your 2 litres of fresh pipi). I for one an a bit disappointed that the fisheries department representatives are playing such a conciliatory hand. SO are they blind, or just pretending to be so, perhaps it is time the authorities got stronger feedback. SO if you witness any of the following blatant and clearly organised flouting of the recreational catch limits

1) “mule” family groups tipping their catch into larger buckets and carrying those buckets into the dunes.
2) Young male “runners” (often holding radios or mobile phones)collecting the buckets in the dunes and carrying them along tracks in the dunes.
3)  People with radio or mobile phones marshalling vans in the beach car parks. (Clearly these vehicles are not full of holiday makers) The licence plates on these vans will probably give the best way to find the organizers of these rackets.
Please take photos and/or report you observations to 13 FISH (a free call number)

Adventures in Environmental Science

The Rounded Noon Flower Disphyma crassifolium subsp. clavellatum, sometimes called Pigface, an endemic species of our coastline are coming into flower now.





I would also like to post a link to a film I made called Adventures in Environmental Science which is about some of the activities of the Venus Bay Observation Project.


I am hoping that those who do view the film would find it to be educational and entertaining, but most of all I hope it inspires others to be brave and become involved and add their contribution to the Venus Bay Observation Project.

Protect Pips, Biologist Pleas

There is a great article about protecting our beach and its pipis in this weeks Leongatha Star (22/3/2011). It contains a very real warning, by visiting American marine biologist Heather Hawk, that our once large population of pipis on the beach at Venus Bay could already be facing an impending crash in population through over harvesting.

“Little is known about the impact of harvesting in Victoria … so monitoring pipi population structure and harvests is critical for these beaches(Venus Bay), which serve as recruitment sources for all of southern Australia”

“Fisheries in Sydney and elsewhere have learned that the species is highly susceptible to local population crashes after overfishing”.  …Heather Hawk

All this shouldn’t come as any surprise to Venus Bay locals and keen observers who have been making similar points for a few years now. If you haven’t already signed it,there is a petition by Venus Bay Residents to the Victorian government asking

To the Legislative Assembly of Victoria

The Petition of Residents and Visitors of Venus Bay, South Gippsland, Victoria

draws to the attention of the House

to the unsustainable harvesting of pipis and the associated excessive strain put on existing beach carparks, roadways, toilet and waste facilities during the busy summer period.

The petitioners therefore request that the Legislative Assembly of Victoria:

Enact laws or regulations affecting the inter-tidal zone between Arch Rock and Point Smythe to restrict the taking of pipis, with the current catch limits, to a season extending from May to September.

This is a very sound request in that it will hopefully stop the rampant harvesting of Pipis over summer, and give the Pipi stocks a better chance of developing to maturity.

If you can help out getting more signatures, download the form ( use icon above or click here) and get concerned friends, neighbors & colleagues to sign it. Please post completed petition to PO Box 234, Venus Bay, Vic 3956, by the 30th April to allow time for lodging with Parliament. Alternatively  look for the petition stand at the end of the Tour de Tarwin or Lower Tarwin Market Mondays.

Recreational Pressures

Whilst the rest of the nation celebrates Australian Day, maybe the beach at Venus Bay is getting just a little more stressed each year. Certainly the number of “pipi tourists” peaks on public holidays like Australia Day. There are strict guidelines for pipi collection and hopefully we can avoid the fate of Port Stephens in NSW.

This year has also seen the common sighting of jet skis on the beach. Whilst these particular craft were used sensibly and away from swimmers, others where spotted “hooning” around over summer. It is worth remembering it not just beach goers, the fish and birds will also be distributed.

Once upon a time (just a few years ago) I seldom saw any rubbish on the Venus Bay beaches. Other than typical ocean flotsam and jetsam. Now a short look at the accumulations above the summer berm will show a surprisingly lot of litter, particularly plastic bottle tops, disposable bottles and plastic bags.

All of these stresses can be easily minimized by us, the beach users, so that Venus Bay can remain the wonderful stretch of beach it is today,

Pipi shell survey

The Pipis of Venus Bay are back making news in the local papers. The community has concerns regarding the impacts caused by people collecting Pipi on the surf beaches of Venus Bay. While the political debates are discussed elsewhere, the food web continues down on the beach. In our time of randomly sampling empty Pipi shells for signs of how/why they died we seldom see many examples of predation by predatory snails. The Naticidae leave a distinctive drill-hole mark on their victims, below top is a close-up of the hole a Naticid made in a Surf Clam shell. Nicely bevelled work!

In the shell survey I did on the beach Northwest of Beach Five on the 9Th Jan 2011 the chipped/non-chipped ratio was 9/10 in favour of chipped shells below bottom. The one exception was a Pipi shell with a Naticid hole.

We do this survey to gain information over time on the causal factors of Pipi mortality, but it also gives us some idea of the sizes of the Pipis present and how the Natacids (& others) are faring.

Does anyone know if Oystercatchers leave tell-tale marks on shells when they predate them?

More on Size Matters

There is a large aboriginal midden south of beach one on the edge of a large sand blow out. Recently a lot of the of the midden have been eroded out and formed a long scree field mainly of pipi shells below the midden. Look over the shells it was soon evident that the average size of those shells collected and eat my the aboriginals 200+ years ago is significantly bigger that even the largest shell I could find on the beach today.

Second chance for 75 Litres of Venus Bay Pipi

The current edition of The South Gippsland Sentinel-Times, Tuesday August 17 2010 page15, is carring a story on Pipi poachers intercepted by Fisheries officers at Venus Bay. The five alleged poachers were apparently caught with 75 litres of Pipi. That is 60 litres over the legal catch limit.
The best news of all is most of the Pipis were returned back into the surf.
Anyone who sees or suspects illeagal fishing activity should call 13 FISH (13 3474).

Does Size Matter

Pipi Shell from Venus Bay (note the chipped edge again)

Compared with Pipi shells in New Zealand.
My hand is the same one in both photos, by the way. I suspect the shells are the same species. The difference is there is a "cultural" size limit as well as a 150 bag limit when collecting Pipis, and most shellfish, in New Zealand.
Do we need a size limit as well as an enforce limit to be imposed? Before all the pipis are gone from our beach.

I undertook an improptu survey of pipi shells as I walk from beach 1 to beach 2. I picked up the larger shells thinking i would check their size. then I noticed their edges. Of the eleven shells I had picked up, ten had chipped edges. Further none had the tell tale little hole near the crown indicating they had been killed by another hungry mollusc. These shells where probably all forcefully open with a knife! To say the least I was shocked that they vast majority of shells showed sign of being open and discarded on the beach.