News Release January 16th, 2009
Free-diver and marine park ranger Brett Vercoe shares his secrets of the deep
Senior marine park ranger with the Solitary Islands Marine Park Brett Vercoe is one of the most talented free-divers in Australia. Able to free-dive down to 25 metres Brett last night kicked off this year’s series of Marine Discovery talks at the National Marine Science Centre at Charlesworth Bay.
Brett who has been a ranger in the marine park for the last eight years says the evening gave him the opportunity to show off some of the amazing underwater footage he’s recently taken.
“I collect unique underwater images. It’s my passion to capture images that other people may not be able to get. Recreational anglers were interested to see snapper, mulloway and king fish in their natural environments while other members of the public were interested in the video footage of killer whales and white pointers as well as the more unusual marine creatures.
“I spend most of my working days on the water as a senior marine parks ranger and most of my days off also on the water, free-diving. Free-divers of course don’t use tanks and one of the reasons why I love free-diving so much is that is allows me to get closer to some of the shyer marine creatures, including sharks. I can free-dive to depths of 25 metres, while scuba divers generally can go down to about 30 metres. While they may be able to stay down longer they are limited to how many dives they can take safely, whereas as a free-diver I can dive all day long.”
Brett says he gets a lot of job satisfaction as a marine ranger - educating visitors and locals about the park. He says he developed a love for the marine environment from an early age. He said he spent some time in the army after he left school, but then changed jobs to work for the then Department of Fisheries before joining the Solitary Islands Marine Park eight years ago.
“I have a fantastic job and I work in a fantastic part of the world.”
The Solitary Islands Marine Park is one of six marine parks in NSW. Protective zoning has been in place in some areas since 1991, making it one of the oldest marine protected areas in NSW.
The park stretches over 75 kilometres from Muttonbird Island in the south to the Sandon River and Plover Island in the north. The marine park is home to 550 species of reef fish, 90 species of hard coral and 600 species of molluscs. The marine park also supports a range of threatened and protected species such as the grey nurse shark, black cod, turtles, whales, shore birds and rare marine algae.
For more information on the Solitary Islands Marine Park visit the website at www.mpa.nsw.gov.au or call the office on 6652 0900.
Media Contact: Tonia Liosatos
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