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Scientists to boost whale surveys
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New data on minke whale distribution in pack ice in the Southern Ocean and new techniques developed by Australian scientists for researching whale abundance will help advance non-lethal whale research. |
Environment Minister Peter Garrett said on 23 March the Southern Ocean Research Partnership (SORP) represents the biggest international research effort on Southern Ocean whales yet undertaken. He outlined the research ahead of the first meeting of SORP in Sydney where scientists and experts from around the world gathered for the first time to discuss the Partnership.
The aim of the study is to help inform the future of whale science and offer a new perspective on the numbers and distribution of minkes in and around the Antarctic sea-ice.
Ship-based surveys in the Southern Ocean over the past two decades have found increasing evidence of a possible decline in minke whale abundance. However since the whales also spend time under the pack ice, it was unknown whether the population decline was real or if the whale populations had shifted under the ice so for the first time in 2007 researchers took to the air over Antarctica to find out. A year later they continued collecting more data, using video, infrared video and digital photography, along with observations from four researchers on board the aircraft. This information is currently being analysed to produce the first accurate estimate of the Antarctic minke whale population size. Preliminary findings suggest the aerial surveys are an effective way of counting whales.
"The data collected and the research techniques involved will make a major contribution to global understanding of whales and will be presented at the next meeting of the International Whaling Commission in June as a further example of the innovative, non-lethal research that Australia is championing as the way forward for whale research in the future," Garrett said.
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