This article (http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22859025-5013404,00.html) shows how special and rare these cuttlefish are, and how easily they could be eradicated by man's selfishness if the development was to go ahead. Luckily it seems to be on hold for now, but how long will these magnificent creatures have left until the mineral and fuel shortage needs their home?

I hope a long time.

The article never mentioned a species, which seems odd to me. I believe they are talking about S. Apama, and if so that is the first I have heard of them being anywhere close to protected. Another article (sorry, no source) states "Hundreds of thousands of these giants gather here [Whyalla] once a year..." or something to that effect. If they build a plant in or around Whyalla, I can see the population going down, due to extremes in Whyalla's water in relation to other parts of Australia, though I don't think it will decimate the population (unless they are, in fact, in danger).

Here http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/wildfacts/factfiles/3074.shtml states the concern several years back with overfishing, but it sounds like Australia's protection plan brought populations back up. It says that they are not on the red list.

Shipposhack,
I think the panic about both the new docking facilities and the plant is over the fact that this is the only known place they breed. If the water changes, the population is likely to be wiped out as it is unlikely they will just go elsewhere.

out of curiosity, why wont they go elsewhere?dont they have an inborn need to reproduce?

They do, but if they've been returning to the same spot, and only that spot, to breed, then when the time comes for them to reproduce, their brains must be telling them 'Go to this spot and only this spot.' If they all go there one year (with their last energy reserves because they die following spawning) and the spot is gone, or is there but too damaged/polluted to allow breeding and/or any hatched offspring to survive, then that's it - extinct in one generation.

so they arent indigenous to the area, they just breed there?