One campaign, two voyages

The challenge posed by HIMI's remoteness, topography and weather can’t be overstated.

In September, Australia’s world class research science and icebreaking ship RSV Nuyina will make the two-week voyage from its home port of Hobart to HIMI, where it will stay for 10 days.

The ship will have two helicopters and three rigid inflatable power boats on board, to get the six project groups to and from Heard Island as required (there will be no landings on the McDonald Islands).

Science groups include seabird and seal ecologists, a glaciology team and a team setting up state-of-the-art reflectors around the island to improve satellite geo-positioning.

Voyage One (V1) will then go on to resupply Australia’s Davis research station in Antarctica with fuel, food and supplies, before returning to Hobart. 

In December, RSV Nuyina will return to HIMI on Voyage Two (V2), this time for 25 days, with a focus on marine science and surveys of terrestrial ecosystems. This visit will follow the Nuyina’s resupply operation at Australia’s Casey research station.

Strict protocols will be in place to safeguard the environment, and all activities will be implemented in accordance with environmental permits.

Camp challenges

HIMI is located at 53° S in the ‘furious fifties’, where the weather is notoriously bad. Annual rainfall at sea level can be up to 1.9m (although much of it falls as snow), with strong and persistent westerly winds.

“It’s a uniquely challenging place to operate,” Senior Deep Field Coordinator Marty Passingham said.

“Heard Island has a weather system at one end of the island that’s very different to the other end and we’ve had to take that into consideration when working out how the camps will run.”

Teams of four will camp for short periods on the island to spend time at their project sites.

They’ll be issued with what’s known as a camping cache.

“These will provide life sustainment for four people for three or four nights,” Mr Passingham said.

“They’ll have tents to sleep in, sleeping gear, toilet tents, cooking equipment, food, some emergency supplies, power in the form of a 12- volt power supply, as well as a generator and communications.

“It means we can deploy anyone, anywhere across the island with that cache and know that they'll have everything they need.”

A temporary camp is also being set up at Atlas Cove, on the island’s western side, where weather conditions tend to be worse. 

Three water tanks have been modified with windows, doors and insulation for use as a mess hut, cold porch and kitchen hut. 

After being meticulously cleaned and checked, the huts will be sling loaded into place by helicopter on V1- this has been rehearsed at a site near Hobart  - and retrieved on Voyage 2.

V1 will have 10 day caches and 10 camping caches prepared.

V2 will have 14 for camping and 15 for day trips. They’ll be topped up when they’re returned to the ship and reissued.

Avian influenza

The serious strain of bird flu, H5 high pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI) - commonly known as H5 bird flu - has killed hundreds of thousands of seabirds and seals around the world.

It has not yet reached Australia, Australian Antarctic territory nor -  to anyone's knowledge - either of Australia’s two sub-Antarctic island groups, Macquarie Island or HIMI.

However, affected animals have been found on the French Kerguelen and Crozet sub-Antarctic islands, which are only 450km from HIMI.

Wildlife ecologist Dr Julie McInnes and her team are heading to Heard Island to survey seabird populations, map breeding colonies, and monitor signs of H5 bird flu, working in collaboration with the seal survey team.

But her first job will be visually scoping for signs of the virus.

“We’ll use helicopters initially to give us a broad overview of the island and allow us to assess for wildlife mortalities in larger species such as elephant seals,” Dr McInnes said.

“From there we will use a combination of drones, zodiacs and on-ground surveys with personal protective equipment (PPE) to assess for signs of the disease across the island.”

If wildlife mortalities or signs of H5 bird flu are present, a subset of the team will be dedicated to sampling. This will only be carried out if it is safe to do so.

Samples will be packaged and shipped according to the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations, by expeditioners with approved training.

They will be submitted to the Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness for PCR screening tests to confirm the presence or absence of HPAI.

There is no risk of introducing H5 bird flu to Australia through these samples, which are classified as UN3373 - Biological Substances, Category B.

They will be packed on Heard Island following strict IATA triple packing regulations designed to prevent leakage.

The rest of the sea bird team will carry out population surveys to provide valuable information on abundance and distribution of priority wildlife species.

The population survey work on V1 is being done on the animals that will be present and breeding in October – elephant seals, black-browed albatross, southern giant petrels, gentoo penguins, and the endemic Heard Island cormorant - by walking parties and drones.

“The thing about sub-Antarctic islands that just blows my mind is the high densities of animals,” Dr McInnes said.

“These small islands spotted through the Southern Ocean provide essential habitat for wildlife to come ashore to breed.

“Heard Island is a stronghold for some species, for example there’s thought to be over a million macaroni penguins on Heard Island.”

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Biosecurity

Biosecurity is a top priority for these expeditions, as the World-Heritage-listed HIMI remains largely free of invasive species and is vulnerable to introduced pests.

The risk of H5 bird flu has heightened this concern. The Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) has developed a HIMI HPAI Preparedness and Response Plan, setting out the required actions if certain scenarios arise.

“As well as protecting the natural values of Heard Island, strong biosecurity is critical because we know that H5 bird flu has been confirmed in Kerguelen and Crozet islands so there’s a chance it’s also at Heard Island,” Environmental Management Director Kirsten Leggett said.

“Any human-assisted spread of the virus around the island has serious implications for the species there, so we’re adopting strict biosecurity measures to protect both the wildlife and expeditioners.”

Protecting HIMI’s unique environment from biosecurity risks introduced from Australia, and from the risk of human-assisted spread of HPAI to Australia is critical.

“There will be biosecurity screening of all cargo and personal effects, as well as rodent dog inspections of the cargo and ship before we leave Hobart," Mrs Leggett said. 

“Expeditioners will be provided with a dedicated clothing kit that doesn’t have velcro, because it can harbor seeds. That kit is only for use on Heard Island."

Heightened biosecurity measures ensure that:

• Both voyages will have a Biosecurity Coordinator, to make sure protocols are understood and adhered to.
• All clothing and gear will be inspected before expeditioners go to the island and when they get back.
• All expeditioners will have access to cleaning and disinfection kits while moving.
• Cargo cleaning and disinfection procedures will be applied for cargo returning from the island, including watercraft and aircraft.

If H5 bird flu is suspected, expeditioners will follow guidance to prevent further spread, including:

• Wildlife subject experts will decide which sites can be accessed, avoiding areas where wildlife are showing signs of H5 bird flu.
• Expeditioners will take extra precautions when approaching wildlife, including increasing approach/stay distances and spending more time observing wildlife areas before approach.
• Camps will not be set up anywhere near bird or seal colonies and PPE is being issued to all expeditioners, ranging in coverage depending on the degree of likely exposure.

“Biosecurity measures will also be heightened on all cargo, gear, samples, equipment and clothing returning from the island to ensure potential biosecurity risks to Antarctica and Australia are well managed,” Mrs Leggett said.

Science collaboration

The HIMI Campaign is an Australian Antarctic Program collaboration with the Australian Antarctic Division and Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF) - also a partner in the Denman Terrestrial and Denman Marine Campaigns.

“On V2, we will send a marine biosecurity specialist, two scientists examining marine benthic (bottom-dwelling) biodiversity, and eight biologists skilled in documenting changes in the numbers of plants and terrestrial animals and how they make up the terrestrial ecosystems of the islands,” SAEF Director Dr Steven Chown said.

“The Heard and McDonalds Islands are one of Australia's greatest environmental assets, virtually pristine wilderness areas with unusual species of flowering plants, insects and other animals, living alongside Australia's only mountain glaciers and active volcano.

“Climate change is affecting these extraordinary values. Our work as part of the Australian Antarctic Program, in collaboration with the AAD, aims to understand the scale of the change and what we can do to secure these extraordinary, globally significant environments, recognised on the World Heritage list.”