Information
Comments
We are currently heading east after a busy last day around the Balleny Islands. The acoustic surveys and associated mid-water trawls continued through the night and at first light we resumed the visual transect whale survey. East of Buckle Island we sighted large numbers of humpbacks whales as well as a fin whale and Antarctic minke whales. The sometimes mirror calm water was perfect for spotting porpoising gentoo and adelie penguins close to the islands.
Unfortunately ice had blown into the west side of Young and Buckle Islands so we could not complete the transects there. Instead we collected biopsy samples from humpback whales - these samples will be used for stable isotope analyses of the diet of the whales in this region.
Biopsy sampling can be slow going - after firing each dart buoys are thrown over to mark the dart and then both the buoys and the dart need to be retrieved back onto the ship. This normally requires some careful manoeuvring and nets on long poles. Happily for this voyage we built small, remote-controlled catamarans that zip out from the ship and scoop up the darts. Many thanks to Chris Henderson for developing these catamarans – they’ve quickened the process no end.
While biopsy sampling we also collected photographs of each humpback whale. The pattern on the underside of the tail is unique and individuals can be linked to breeding populations if they are found in the whale fluke catalogues compiled across the eastern Pacific. It’s now thought most of the humpbacks whales that feed around the Ballenys breed off the Great Barrier Reef.
Tomorrow starts the ten-day period dedicated to blue whale research. Let's hope the fantastic weather we’ve had around the Ballenys will stay with us for a while longer.
Map
A map showing Australia and Antarctica. The map shows the journey of one voyage that has occured in the season, with each route highlighted in a distinct colour.