The ice-covered Balleny Islands is a 160km island chain in the northern Ross Sea and a known foraging area for humpback whales. This voyage will undertake a range of surveys around the islands to understand the factors influencing abundance and distribution of the whales - including what they eat.
Humpback whales are known to arrive on their Antarctic feeding grounds at the start of November and depart in April. The proposed survey will take three days and follow a zig-zag path of approximately 320 nautical miles around the Balleny Islands from close to shore to about 1000m depth.
Sampling methods
Sampling methods will include water sampling, fisheries acoustics, and mammal and seabird sighting. Where possible, biopsies will be taken from whales. Water sampling will include trawling the mesopelagic layer to provide samples for trophic studies. The mesopelagic layer is commonly known as the 'twilight zone' of the ocean and includes depths from about 200 - 1000m.
Related information
Read about the Ross Sea ecosystem and trophic model
