Bird Watch

In conjuction with our Dolphin Watch cetacean surveys we now also have Birdlife Australia undertaking Sea Bird surveys on our offshore islands in the Encounter Marine Park.

Seeds For Snapper

Oz Fish has been leading sea-grass restoration across Australia and has been influential in restoring degraded sea grass meadows. Unfortunately, thousands of hectares have been lost from South Australia’s coastline having large impacts on native fish populations. That’s why we need to partake and continue to support projects like Seeds for Snapper.  Oz fish volunteers and partner organisations such as the Big Duck aid in the process and monitor the trial sites. The Seeds for Snapper Project arrived on Adelaide metropolitan beaches in 2020 and expanded down to the Fleurieu coastline in 2022. The Big Duck was proud to be involved in chartering the SFS crew and volunteers to restoration sites where they deployed 150 biodegradable sandbags full of seedlings.

Little Penguin Tracking Project

The Big Duck is directly supporting a project that aims to use miniature satellite-linked and GPS tags to track Little Penguins (Eudyptula minor) and examine their movements in relation to the Murray River Outflow. Little Penguins are the smallest of the penguin species and play an important role within the marine ecosystem. Unfortunately, since the early 2000’s, local Little Penguin populations have experienced radical declines. Recent work, however, has suggested there may be a link between the outflow of the Murray River and the stability of local penguins populations. We hope to better understand this relationship via the penguin’s movement to help assist in stabilizing their populations for the future. Besides, they are super cute!

This project is being done in collaboration with animal movement ecologist Dr. Jonathan Werry and penguin ecologist Dr. Diane Colombelli-Negrel from Flinders University.

Source: Satellite and GPS example little penguin tracks from “Protecting little penguins with Phillip Island Nature Parks - Argos (argos-system.org)” and Phillips et al. (2019). Variability in at-sea foraging behaviour of little penguins Eudyptula minor in response to fine-scale environmental features. MEPS Vol 627: 141-154.

Whale Bone Research: Historical Movement

The Big Duck is supporting innovative research into the historical movement patterns of the Southern Right Whale (Eubalaena australis), with a particular emphasis on the Victor Harbor/Encounter Bay temporal residency area. The Southern Right Whale is a large baleen whale (up to 18ms in length) that migrates between the sub-Antarctic and the southern shores of Australia. Groups of individuals within the population return to the same specific coastal locations along Australia to have their calves and mate. In the early to mid 1800’s whaling stations targeted these groups of whales, which often led to localised extinctions. It was almost 100 years before Southern Right Whales were seen in Victor Harbor after local whaling finished in the mid 1800’s.

From time to time, bones from some of these processed whales are sighted underwater or washed into the shallows after big seas. Recent advancements in chemical analyses using lasers across bones allow some amazing insight into an animal’s prior movements, habitats they used as well as feeding locations. In this project we are running a laser across the vertebrae of large Southern Right Whale bones sourced underwater in Victor Harbor and Encounter Bay. A bit like reading the rings of a tree, this new chemical analysis will enable us to look at the historic movements of individual whales over their entire lifespan. We are hoping this project will provide new insights in the species movement and their periods of temporal residency between the sub-Antarctic and coastal Australian waters.

This project is a collaboration with Dr. Jonathan Werry and Professor Susan Bengston-Nash from Griffith University.

Source: Example LA-ICPMS plots from Livernoise, M.C., et al. (2021). Front. Mar. Sci., Sec. Marine Megafauna Volume 8 - 2021 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.704134

Glossy Black Cockatoo

A percentage of your ticket purchase goes back into the re-vegetation of Sheoak trees in Deep Creek National Park. Due to this re-vegetation project and ongoing support, the first Glossy Black Cockatoo was spotted back in the Deep Creek National Park in 2022 for the first time since the 1970s (DEW, 2022).

Deep Creek Conservation Park is the largest area of remaining natural vegetation on the Fleurieu Peninsula and is home to our native Southern Brown Bandicoots, short beaked echidnas, and Southern Emu-wrens. It was once home to the Glossy Black Cockatoo, however rabbit grazing prevented Sheoak trees from regenerating, diminishing them of their habitat and food source.  For the last 50 years, the Glossy Black Cockatoo has only been seen on Kangaroo Island. We proudly support this program to help protect and increase population numbers of the Glossy black cockatoo and bring them back to the Fleurieu!

Carbon Offsetting - GreenFleet & In-House Tree Planting

The Big Duck offsets 150% of carbon generated by our office & vessels. We achieve this by doing inhouse tree planting and using Green Fleet.

The money donated from The Big Duck in relation to our carbon emissions is used to plant legally protected native forests. The number of trees GreenFleet plants is comparable to the amount of emissions we produce as a company. The skippers and crew assist in the planting of native trees at rural areas within the region. This helps with the offsetting of our carbon however also ensures local areas are revegetated with native flora and provides habitat for vulnerable species

How does planting trees help climate change?

The trees planted by GreenFleet reduce the impacts of climate change by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. As we all know trees absorb CO2 (carbon dioxide) - the more trees the less carbon dioxide.

Green Fleet is a company doing great things for our natural environment. Green Fleet have planted 10.3 million trees, created 550+ native forests and have offset 4.4million tonnes of carbon – that’s a big step in the right direction. If you want to offset your own carbon emissions, you can do that through Green Fleet as well at https://www.greenfleet.com.au/offset-your-emissions.

Additonal Initiatives the business has undertaken to reduce its carbon footprint are:

• Washing the boat with just fresh water (looking after local seagrass)

• Reduction of transport of the vessel during service periods (reduction in CO2 emission)

• Our swing mooring protects the seagrass (allowing seagrass photosynthesis)

• Direct seeding (to offset annual greenhouse emissions)

• Eco friendly lighting throughout the office environment (lower dependence on power)

• Minimal printing in office (reduction in landfill / reduce demand to cut down trees)

• Using local tradesman (reduction in 3rd party C02 emission)

• Digital manifest and ticketing (reduction in paper use)

• Giving passegers the option to add a small contribution ($2) at time of online booking - 100% of customer contributions are used to purchase additional carbon offsetting through Green Fleet (above our 150% business operation offsets).

Cultural Partnership

Our Big Duck vessels are named after significant wildlife in the marine park in which the Ngarrindjeri people have a significant cultural and spiritual connection with. Our Victor Harbor vessel is named, ‘Pungari’ which is a Ngarrindjeri word meaning Seal and our Wirrina Vessel is named Kondoli which is a Ngarrindjeri word meaning ‘Whale’. Both our vessels have been blessed by Mark Koolmatrie, a Ramindjeri man, we are very grateful to be able to work so closely with out cultural partners ‘Kool Tours’ and Mark Koolmatrie. 

Plastic Reduction

We utilize multiple use waterproof smocks to reduce our use of single use plastic ponchos and partake in responsible recycling practices. Our skippers and crew will also make the effort to remove plastic and rubbish where possible while out in the Southern Ocean and beach-side.

Ecotourism Awards

The Big Duck was awarded GOLD in the 2024 & 2023 South Australian Tourism Awards in the ‘Ecotourism’ category + SILVER in the 2022 Awards.

These awards recognize our ongoing commitment to being a sustainable tourism business with a primary focus on experiencing & respecting natural areas. It acknowledges our exceptional ability to foster cultural & environmental understanding, appreciation & conservation projects. We are exceptionally proud to receive this award and will continue to put our best foot forward in relation to ecotourism principals.

Finding the Fab Five

Australian marine parks, located within First Nation Sea Countries, are home to many fabulous marine species – including the ‘Fab Five’ – Australian sea lions, giant Australian cuttlefish, white sharks, southern right whales and white-bellied sea eagles. Did you know that South Australian waters are home to more than 80% of all Australian sea lions? Or that up to a quarter of a million giant Australian cuttlefish migrate to South Australia to breed each year?

However, these wonders are underwater - making them hard to see...

A team of researchers at the University of Adelaide are working with scientists, school groups, First  Nations' and tour operators (The Big Duck) to help people see these magical sights and highlight the important relationship between marine parks and the Fab Five species!

Using the 'Fab Five' we are delivering education packages and creating artwork with schools groups to explore ways to engage communities with marine parks. We are working with tour operators to build digital story maps to help promote their business and protect their values; and with Indigenous people and artists to learn from their knowledge of Sea Country and these fabulous species.

Marine parks are essential in conserving marine habitats, and the charismatic marine species that rely on these environments. Click on the images below to learn more about the Fab Five & our Marine Parks.

Download Infographics & Factsheets Here: