Season whale catch records for austral summers from 1931/32 to 1979/80. Data have been aggregated into one degree cells centered on the reported position. The dataset covers five whale species - Blue, Fin, Sei, Minke and Humpback. These data have been exposed as an OBIS (Ocean Biogeographic Information System) resource via DiGIR (Distributed Generic Information Retrieval (DiGIR)).

This log contains notes and observations of whales and seals at Mawson, collected between 1979 and 1984. Included animals are Minke Whales, Killer Whales, Leopard Seals, Elephant Seals, Crabeater Seals and Fur Seals. Locations include Horseshoe Harbour, Welch Island and Giganteus Island. The hard copy of the log has been archived by the Australian Antarctic Division library.

Metadata record for data expected from ASAC Project 2940 See the link below for public details on this project. Public: The extent of Antarctic winter sea-ice influences all aspects of the Antarctic marine food-web. We will use natural variations in inter-annual ice extent, to assess how a key component of that ecosystem, the predators, use the sea ice zone. Core foraging areas and dietary signals for a key Antarctic predator (Antarctic fur seal) will be identified. We will use newly developed, technology to track the animals, and stable isotopes to examine tropic linkages. Combined with satellite-derived sea-ice data, this will lead to the development of a model to predict how changing sea-ice patterns will influence Antarctic marine predator communities. Project Objectives: 1. Use large samples of newly-developed (and tested) animal-borne miniature geolocating light level recorders to population level information on the spatial extent of movements of Antarctic fur seals, thereby quantifying the extent of the use of the winter pack-ice and associated waters by these abundant predators. 2. To quantify how changes in winter ice extent influence the location of core foraging areas for this species. 3. To develop models to investigate how changing ice conditions in the future will influence the movements of this species and to examine a range of climate-change scenarios. Taken from the 2007-2008 Progress Report: No field work was conducted at Macquarie Island in the last 12 months. This was due to the decision by the state government to not issue permits for the work. With the help of our colleagues from BAS we did however manage to deploy 20 GLS light loggers on Antarctic fur seals at South Georgia. Taken from the 2008-2009 Progress Report: Objective 1 has been revised to the study of Antarctic fur seals only (see below). Research is progressing well with 78 animals tracked in 2008 and a further 80 expected in 2009. Objectives 2 and 3 will follow once field data is available for both years (May 2010). Isotopic analysis of blood and whisker samples for the 2008 season will commence in May 2009 once samples have been received. Taken from the 2010-2011 Progress Report: Public summary of the season progress: This study has quantified the response of the Antarctic fur seal (Arctocephalus gazella) to inter-annual variation in oceanographic and winter ice conditions. We have measured the winter spatial foraging patterns of 66 adult females from three circum-Antarctic populations over two years (2008, 2009) during 114 trips to sea, while simultaneously recording in situ water temperature. Stable isotope analysis of fur seal blood and whisker samples indicates that adult females feed on a range of lower (krill) to higher (fish and squid) trophic levels across their winter range. Broad-scale habitat preferences across the range of the species indicate the importance of shelf, ice edge, frontal and oceanic and continental upwelling features in determining winter foraging movements.

This metadata record is a parent for all data collected during the 2013 Antarctic Blue Whale Voyage. Description of specific data sets can be found in the Voyage Science Plan and within child datasets.

All photos taken during the NZ-Australia Antarctic Ecosystems Voyage to the Ross Sea 2015 in an attempt to get a best photo identification image of blue whales, killer whales, humpback whales and minke whales. Image collection location and other details such as photographer, species, date (UTC) can be found in excel spreadsheet.

Annual aerial surveys of southern right whales have been conducted off the southern Australian coast, between Cape Leeuwin (W.A.) and Ceduna (S.A.) over a 28 year period between 1993 and 2020, to monitor the recovery of this species following commercial whaling. We conducted an aerial survey of southern right whales between the 20th and 24th August 2020, to continue these annual series of surveys and inform the long-term population trend. The comparable count for the 2020 survey utilised the maximum count for each leg and incorporated a correction for the unsurveyed area between Head of the Bight to Ceduna due to the inability to cover whole survey as a result of COVID-19 restrictions between State borders. This resulted in 384 individuals, consisting of 156 cows accompanied by calves of the year and 72 unaccompanied adults. Of these, 126 images of individual whales have been selected for photo-identification matching. This is a significant decrease in overall sightings that has not been observed for over 13 years when compared to long term trend data for the population; last seen in 2007 (N = 286 individuals). The subsequent population estimate for the Australian ‘western’ subpopulation is 2,585 whales, which is also a significant decrease in estimated population size from 3,164 in 2019 to 2,585 in 2020. The extremely low number of unaccompanied adults (N = 68) had the greatest impact on the overall number of sightings in 2020, and is the lowest number sighted since 1993 (N = 47). Previous surveys in 2007 and 2015 have been noted as years of low whale counts that had been deemed anomalous years, although the low numbers from this survey questions this and may suggest the 3-year female breeding cycle is becoming more unpredictable. Considerable inter-annual variation in whale numbers, and cycles in population growth, makes it difficult to detect consistent and reliable changes in abundance from one year to the next, or even over longer periods of time. This severely inhibits our ability to identify immediate threats to the population and strongly supports continued annual population surveys.

This dataset is a record of sightings and strandings of cetaceans (mainly whales) at Macquarie Island. Results have been reported from 1968 to 1990 on an irregular basis. The related publication (ANARE Research Notes 91) discusses a number of species including southern right (Balaena glacialis), minke (Balaenoptera acutorostrata), strap-toothed (Mesoplodon layardii), sperm (Physter macrocephalus), longfin pilot (Globicephala melaene) and killer (Orcinus orca) whales. Quantitative data relating to orcas (from tables 1 and 2) are provided here, along with data related to other species extracted from the text. The fields in this dataset are: (Table 1) number_of_individuals_in_pod number_of_sightings (Table 2) month number_of_sightings minimum_number_of_individuals maximum_number_of_individuals number_of_males number_of_females number_of_adults number_of_juveniles number_of_calves (From the text) observation_date location_name longitude latitude common_name scientific_name_original scientific_name abundance notes

With the aim of estimating the proportion of Antarctic minke whales (Balaenoptera bonaerensis) in pack ice over summer, an Australian fixed-wing aerial survey programme, based in east Antarctica, was conducted in the austral summers of 2007/2008, 2008/09 and 2009/10 (See Kelly et al. 2010; SC/62/IA8). The first season (2007/08) comprised of three 'test' flights. As such, there were no real 'survey' data collected during these three flights, but video and digital stills data have been included in the dataset supplied. The surveys (2008/09 and 2009/10) covered two general regions: Vincennes Bay (66 degrees 24'S 110 degrees 18'E) which was surveyed multiple times across both seasons and within the 2009/10 season, and north and east of the Shackleton Ice Shelf and into the eastern section of the Davis Sea, which was surveyed once (2009/10). The primary focus was on Antarctic minke whales, however sightings of other species were also collected (killer whale, Southern right whale, penguins and seals). The survey was conducted in a CASA 212:400 aircraft at an altitude was 228m (750ft) and survey speed was 204 km/hr (110 knots). The survey was conducted as independent double-platform: the front and back observers were isolated visually and audibly. The aircraft was also fitted with a number of digital still, video and infrared cameras. Data Available 1. Sighting data set A .csv file of animal sightings. Two files, one for each survey season, has been supplied. The observers field of view was between 30 degrees and 60 degrees declination (approximately) from the horizon, corresponding to an on the ground area width of 264 metres each side of the aircraft. Protocol was followed as for traditional line transect surveys for marine mammals, with observers searching ahead of the aircraft in a 'D' pattern. The recorded observations consisted of cue counting (where possible) and the angle of declination when the animals were abeam to the observer (using a Suunto inclinometer). Cues were not recorded after the animals had moved past abeam. The angle of declination of groups was measured at the centre of the group. Perpendicular distance out to animals was calculated using angle of declination and flying height (but no correction for curvature of the earth or aircraft drift angle was applied). Other information recorded included species, group size (minimum, maximum and best estimate), cue type, number of animals at surface when perpendicular, direction of travel and any behavioural features of the animal(s). Please note that no formal sighting data was collected for the January 2008 test flights. Effort data set A .csv file of survey effort and environmental conditions. Two files, one for each survey season, has been supplied. The flight leader recorded environmental covariates (ice coverage (to the nearest 10%), glare, Beaufort sea state, and cloud cover, etc) at regular intervals, or when conditions changed. Still images The data includes jpeg files of images. A still camera was mounted vertically in the base of the aircraft to cover the trackline (10 megapixel Nikon D200 with 35mm lens); camera was situated behind a Perspex window. In addition in the final survey year (2009/10) two Nikon D300 cameras (12 megapixel with 50mm lens) were mounted at the side windows obliquely at an angle of 45 degrees (please note side-camera was used only during final season of survey, Dec 2009-Feb 2010). Focus set to infinity, and image settings given to account for high-light, high-contrast environments. GPS/altitude data was embedded in each images EXIF information. Still image coverage underneath the aircraft was uninterrupted along the trackline with a shutter-release of around 1 photograph per second and a swath width of around 157 m. Similarly the oblique mounted cameras had a coverage over 450 m each side of the trackline (i.e., configured to be approximately the same as the human observers). Video cameras A number of streampix video files. Two high

Voyage track information for the VWHALE voyage of the Australian Antarctic program, February-March, 2013. The data are available as either NMEA files or shapefiles. Voyage objective - Whale acoustics and tagging off the ice edge of the Ross Sea Voyage duration - 30 Jan 2013 to 17 Mar 2013. Ship - Amaltal Explorer See the parent metadata record for more information about the voyage.