Publications database

Antarctic sea ice plays many crucial roles in the physical environments and ecosystems of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. In this study, we synthesize the physical, biogeochemical, ecosystem, and societal impacts of summers with extreme low Antarctic sea-ice coverage.

Aim … To map presence, absence and ignorance of Antarctic seabird breeding occupancy at the spatial resolution of ice-free habitat sites to identify knowledge gaps and inform management and conservation. Location … East Antarctica between longitudes 30°?E and 150°?E.

Microplastic (MP; plastic particles < 5 mm) pollution is pervasive in the marine environment, including remote polar environments. This study provides the first pan-Antarctic survey of MP pollution in Southern Ocean sea ice by analyzing sea ice cores from several diverse Antarctic regions.

As whales recover from commercial exploitation, they are increasing in abundance in habitats that they have been absent from for decades. However, studying the recovery and habitat use patterns of whales, particularly in remote and inaccessible regions…

Among large cetaceans in the Southern Hemisphere, fin whales were the most heavily exploited in terms of numbers taken during the period of intense industrial whaling. Recent studies suggest that…

Blue whales Balaenoptera musculus at South Georgia were heavily exploited during 20th century industrial whaling, to the point of local near-extirpation. Although legal whaling for blue whales ceased in the 1960s…

Around 176500 whales were killed in the sub-Antarctic waters off South Georgia (South Atlantic) between 1904 and 1965. In recent decades, whales have once again become summer visitors, with the southern right whale (SRW) the most commonly reported species until 2011. Here…

An automated algorithm for passive acoustic detection of blue whale D-calls is developed based on established deep learning methods for image recognition via the DenseNet architecture. Koogu—an open-source Python package—was used for developing the detector.

Identification of species' Biologically Important Areas (BIAs) is fundamental to conservation planning and species distribution models (SDMs) are a powerful tool commonly used to do this.

The East Antarctic krill fisheries are spread across two Divisions of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), Division 58.4.1 between 80-150°E and Division 58.4.2 between 30-80°E.

There is growing interest from research and conservation groups in the potential for using small unoccupied aerial vehicles (UAVs; <2 kg) to conduct wildlife surveys because they are affordable, easy to use, readily available and reliable. However, limitations such as short flight endurance…

Aerial surveys are frequently used to estimate the abundance of marine mammals, but their accuracy is dependent upon obtaining a measure of the avail?ability of animals to visual detection.

Baleen whales are predominately summer visitors to Antarctic waters, where they feed on large swarms of zooplankton, primarily Antarctic Krill (Euphausia superba). Over 2 million whales were killed in Southern Hemisphere whaling operations in the 20th Century 1.

Individuals in isolated and extreme environments can experience debilitating side-effects including significant decreases in fat-free mass (FFM) from disuse and inadequate nutrition. The objective of this study was to determine the strengths and weaknesses of three-dimensional optical (3DO)…

Seven passive acoustic surveys for marine mammal sounds were conducted by deploying sonobuoys along ship tracks during Antarctic voyages spanning years 2006-2021. These surveys included nearly 330° of longitude throughout Antarctic (south of 60°S) and sub-Antarctic (between 50-60°S) latitudes. Here…

There are many advantages to transitioning from conducting marine wildlife surveys via human observers onboard light-aircraft, to capturing aerial imagery using drones. However, it is important to maintain the validity of long-term data series whilst transitioning from observer to imagery surveys.

Among large cetaceans in the Southern Hemisphere, fin whales were the most heavily exploited in terms of numbers taken during the period of intense industrial whaling. Recent studies suggest that…

As we learn more about the importance of cetaceans in the Antarctic, including their populations' recovery and needs as krill and fish predators, it is increasingly clear that cetacean science is vital for informing ecosystem-based management.

Antarctic krill are a fundamental component of Southern Ocean ecosystems and perturbations to krill populations have ramifications for the entire ecosystem. Krill are fished across the Southern Ocean and sustainable management of this fishery is a high priority for the Australian Government.

INTRODUCTION The Commission and the Scientific and Conservation Committees have adopted numerous recommendations over the years for strengthening engagement with other organisations. The IWC Secretariat, in collaboration with members of the SC and CC have been working to carry out these mandates…

Agenda Item(s) SC-CAMLR-41 - 10.3 - Reports of representatives at meetings of other international organisations

Introduction … Miller and Kelly (2023) provides some guidelines on spatial model-based estimation of abundance (and its uncertainty) from counts of cetaceans obtained using standard distance sampling line transect surveys.