Summary
The Census for Antarctic Marine Life (CAML, IPY Project 53) will investigate the distribution and abundance of Antarctic marine biodiversity and how it will be affected by climate change. It is a major ship-based research programme in the austral summer of 2007-2008 involving scientists from 30 countries and 14 vessels. CEAMARC is the Australian, French and Japanese contribution to CAML involving ships, scientists and students from all three nations. This collaboration is a highly coordinated and comprehensive survey of the plankton, fish, benthos and oceanography of the waters north of Terre Adélie and George V Land of Eastern Antarctica. CEAMARC will provide a robust benchmark for East Antarctica against which the effects of future change can be measured. It seeks to understand the processes that have lead to the evolution and survival of the current biota, so we can predict how the biota may respond to future change.