SC/59/IA21 Preliminary results of aerial surveys around Elephant Island and the

programme from board RV ‘Polarstern ’ (Polarstern ANT 23-8) in the Elephant Island, the South Shetland Islands and Joinville – D’Urville Islands region. This allowed for the opportunity to conduct a helicopter based cetacean survey in the same area parallel to the fish work. A total of 2570nm were c...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: South Shetland Islands
Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
Format: Text
Language:English
Subjects:
Antarctic
Elephant Island
Joinville
South Shetland Islands
Antarc*
Antarctic Minke whale
Balaenoptera bonaerensis
Balaenoptera borealis
Balaenoptera physalus
baleen whale
Fin whale
Humpback Whale
minke whale
Sei Whale
toothed whale
Online Access:http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.424.7865
http://www.iwcoffice.co.uk/_documents/sci_com/SC59docs/sc-59-ia21.pdf
Description
Summary:programme from board RV ‘Polarstern ’ (Polarstern ANT 23-8) in the Elephant Island, the South Shetland Islands and Joinville – D’Urville Islands region. This allowed for the opportunity to conduct a helicopter based cetacean survey in the same area parallel to the fish work. A total of 2570nm were covered on survey effort with the helicopter. During this time a total of 39 sightings with 91 animals were recorded. The sightings included four different baleen whale species: humpback whale (Megeptera novaeangliae), fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus), sei whale (Balaenoptera borealis) and Antarctic minke whale (Balaenoptera bonaerensis). Using the helicopter in addition with digital photography allowed the identification of three different beaked whale species: southern bottlenose whale (Hyperoodon planifrons), strap-toothed whale (Mesoplodon layardii) and Gray’s beaked whale (Mesoplodon grayi). The different cetacean species showed a clear spatial segregation in the study area. Humpback whales occurred in a mean water depth of 254m, whereas fin whales occurred on the outer shelf and on the slope at a mean depth of 1106. Beaked whales were sighted in much deeper waters with a mean depth of 3198m.

Similar Items