Big weekend at the Bay

IT is a huge weekend coming up at Port MacDonnell as Holdfast Limestone Coast Inc offers a raft of activities on offer to celebrater and educate about seaweed.

The Seaweed Art Exhibition, featuring works from a Seaweed Painting Workshop earlier this month, will be open at Salt Café & Bar, with the opportunity to vote for your favourite work.

Friday and Saturday will see an 8.30am Tai Chi on the Beach session at Squeaky’s Beach, followed by guided beach walks on both days from 9.30amm

Things get micro from there with Dr Alecia Bellgrove and Sally O’Connor running a Friday workshop involving checking out seaweed under a microscope, as well as creating your own algae bookmark, with further workshops on the program on Saturday, with Faith Coleman heading up more microscope sessions.

The beach walks and education sessions continue on Sunday.

Arguably the centrepiece of the weekend program is the movie screening of White Rock at Port MacDonnell Community Complex on Saturday 28 March from 5pm.

Featuring acclaimed filmmaker and environmental advocate Damon Gameau, White Rock connects science, policy, and sustainable seafood to reveal a path forward for the hidden environmental crisis unfolding in Australian waters—the longspined sea urchins destruction of the Great Southern Reef.

Longspined sea urchins (Centrostephanus rodgersii) have transformed once-thriving kelp forests into lifeless barrens, impacting 2000 km of Australia’s coastline from southern New South Wales to Tasmania.

Scientists warn that without immediate action, these degraded ecosystems will struggle to recover, endangering fisheries, biodiversity, and marine industries.

Professor Maria Byrne, one of Australia’s leading urchin experts, said if this were happening on land, people would be demanding urgent action.

“We have the science, we have the solutions—we just need the government to act,” Professor Byrne said.

A petition for federal funding for urchin management has been gathering momentum, with thousands of Australians already signing to urge government action.

Dr Scott Bennett, marine ecologist and co-founder of the Great Southern Reef Foundation, said restoring these reefs wasn’t just an environmental necessity – it’s an economic and cultural opportunity.

“With the right intervention, we know that kelp forests can recover rapidly,” he said.

Following the screening of White Rock, there will be a panel discussion and Q&A with Dr Alecia Bellgrove, Zoe Brittain, Dr Faith Coleman and Uncle Ken Jones to discuss the issues raised in the documentary.

Holdfast Limestone Coast Inc. spokesperson Sally O’Connor from said they want to share this film with the community to show how vulnerable our coastal ecosystem can be.

“We hope we do not experience the same devastation in our kelp forests,” she said. “The film illustrates some warning signs our fishermen, divers, surfers may come across.”

The other highlight on the weekend program is the ‘Fruits of the Sea – A Hands On Cooking Experience’ on Sunday from 12noon under the guidance Zoe Brittain, from Deakin University.

‘Seaweed. A Celebration’ exhibition will also be unveiled on Friday night at the Hangar Gallery at the Mount Gambier Regional Airport from 6pm.

For more details on all the events head to the Holdfast Limestone Coast Inc. website.