For three years Helen Moody and Mike Jefferis led walks and kayak trips to, past or around the 61 islands on the NSW South Coast between Nowra and the Victorian border.
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With some trepidation they gambled on self- publishing the book.
The substantial, colourful book, got excellent reviews and readers loved it, and it sold out [750 copies] in five weeks, leaving many would-be purchasers disappointed.
Now a small South Coast publishing company has produced a second print run.
Envirobook, based at Sussex Inlet, specialises in environmental books and the South Coast Island books can be purchased online at https://envirobook.com.au/ or at bookshops.
The sale price is $55.
About the islands - briefly
There are 20 coastal islands and 41 in the estuaries, rivers and lakes open to the ocean.
Nearly all the islands are small and uninhabited; some are mere specks on a map.
Yet each has something special about it.
Several are wildlife havens with significant biodiversity values.
Some have ancient and ongoing spiritual significance to First Nations people.
Some have fascinating connections to early explorers and settlers.
A handful are privately owned.
The book tells of Aboriginal connections to the islands, the history of South Coast exploration, and the arrival of settlers and convicts.
There are over 200 photographs, in the South Coast Island books, maps and description of how to visit every island, whether on foot or by boat.
Donations and grants from individuals and organisations covered most of the production costs of the first print run, so that the $26,000 profit from book sales of the first print run is being given to environmental projects.
Donations have just been made to South Coast Organisations - see details below.
Threatened species protection - Birdlife Shoalhaven
A donation to Birdlife Shoalhaven will be allocated by them to the National Parks and Wildlife
Service's [NPWS] South Coast Shorebird Recovery Program, which aims to reduce the rate of decline of threatened beach-nesting shorebirds and recover populations by enhancing breeding success.
The donation will fund nest monitoring and predator control programs of endangered shorebirds.
Coordinated by NPWS Ranger, over 100 volunteers, many of whom are members of Birdlife Shoalhaven, monitor and protect shorebird nesting habitat and breeding pairs from Wollongong to the Victoria border, focusing on four threatened species: Little Tern, Hooded Plover, Pied Oystercatcher and the Sooty Oystercatcher.
These species are under threat from foxes, cats and birds such as ravens, by disturbance and nest failure caused by humans and domestic dogs and from king tides and storm surges washing away nests.
Protecting the Blue Groper - Nature Coast Marine Group
A donation to the Eurobodalla-based Nature Coast Marine Group [NCMG] will fund the production and promotion of a film on the need for greater protection of the Eastern Blue Groper.
The NCMG is campaigning to have the Blue Groper fully protected in NSW waters.
This friendly fish, often seen swimming up close and personal with scuba divers and snorkelers,
is the NSW state fish. Despite this status, the species need urgent protection from fishing.
There is a growing recognition of the role Blue Gropers play in controlling Long Spined Purple Sea Urchins and stopping the spread of urchin barrens that are threatening shallow reefs.
The NCMG is petitioning the NSW Legislative Assembly to give full protection to the Eastern Blue Groper. See https://www.change.org/FULL-GROPER-PROTECTION
The NCMG will make a short film to highlight the special relationship Blue Gropers have with human communities.
The movie will be a collaboration between filmmakers, producers and the community to tell their stories of their local blue groper and why he is so special, to highlight these animal's gentle and inquisitive nature and to educate people on the unique role Blue Gropers play in their ecosystems.
Preventing the destruction of bushland - Manyana Matters
A donation to Manyana Matters Environmental Association [MMEA] will be used to support
their costs, including their communication and social media platforms and campaign materials used in their quest to save local rainforest from being bulldozed for development.
Manyana Matters is a grassroots community group dedicated to the preservation, protection and enhancement of the natural, social and cultural environment of coastal villages in the Bendalong/Manyana area.
The group was formed shortly after the 2019-20 bushfires burnt 90 percent pf the area's bushland and forest.
At the same time a 'Zombie' development application [one that had been sleeping for many years] for a residential subdivision threatened the destruction of one of the last remaining unburnt areas.
After a strident and engaging community campaign the issue never went away. It has sat with the Federal Minister for the Environment for three years waiting for the developer, Ozy Homes, to address all the submissions.
In February this year this finally happened and a decision by the current Federal Minister is imminent. And now an additional Zombie development has been resurrected, so that Manyana Matters is revving back up to full campaign mode.
Improving the protective role of marine parks and reserves - National Parks Association NSW
A donation to the NSW National Parks Association [NPA will support their campaign to
improve the protection offered by the NSW Marine Park estate, especially for the improved
status of Aquatic Reserves.
The NPA is a non-government conservation group that seeks to protect, connect and restore the integrity and diversity of natural systems through national
parks, marine sanctuaries and other means.
The effectiveness of the state's six Marine Parks has been reduced in recent years as the NSW Government wound back the fully protective marine sanctuary zones.
Both commercial and recreational fishing is currently permitted in about 80 per cent of most marine parks in NSW
and less than seven percent of the NSW coastline is fully protected in marine sanctuaries.
A recent report by Professor David Booth and Giglia A. Beretta, 'Creating a world class Marine Protected Area system - getting New South Wales back on track', presents the case and strategy for improvement.
The donation to NPA will help promote that report and in particular a campaign for increasing the awareness and role of 12 tiny Aquatic Reserves, mostly located in the Sydney region.
The initial target is to lift the conservation status of these Aquatic Reserves to make them fully 'no take' sanctuaries as a relatively non-controversial first step in building support for an expansion and effectiveness of the overall marine park estate in NSW.
The book's author, Helen Moody, reports that there is still some book profits that remain not allocated.
Small environmental groups that have an active campaign or a project in need of some additional support can contact Helen on southcoastislandsbook@gmail.com
