Penguins, fur seals, and fishing: prey requirements and potential competition in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica

The South Shetland Islands were discovered in 1819. Almost immediately the fur seal population was intensively exploited and this lasted through the early years of the 1820s, by which time seal numbers had been so depleted that sealing became uneconomic. Sealing was revived for both fur seals and Elephant seals at several periods later in the century. Sealers were put ashore in gangs and built makeshift shelters in which to live. Many of these have been identified on the South Shetlands, and a number have been excavated, though few with archaeological method. Fifty known sites are identified. The paper outlines the survey and excavation of two sites on Rugged Island by archaeologists from Australia and from the Chilean National Natural History Museum. One site relates to the sealing era of the 1820s, while the second may be associated with a marooned sealing gang in the 1870s. The nature of the occupation sites on the South Shetlands is analysed in relation to the social and operational context of the merchant navies of Britain and the USA in the nineteenth century. This is seen as a more directly relevant context for assessing physical evidence than is the application of theories of global capitalist systems.

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Abundance of Antarctic Fur Seals in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica, During the 1986/87 Austral Summer

Antarctic Ecosystems ◽

10.1007/978-3-642-84074-6_30 ◽

1990 ◽

pp. 265-270 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

J. L. Bengtson ◽

L. M. Ferm ◽

T. J. Härkönen ◽

B. S. Stewart

Keyword(s):

Austral Summer ◽

South Shetland Islands ◽

The South ◽

Shetland Islands ◽

Fur Seals ◽

Antarctic Fur Seals

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Comparative analysis of the diet of Arctocephalus gazella (Pinnipedia), at two localities of the South Shetland Islands, with emphasis on the fish component

Iheringia Série Zoologia ◽

10.1590/1678-4766e2021024 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 111 ◽

Author(s):

Mariana Descalzo ◽

Gustavo A. Daneri ◽

Javier Negrete ◽

Aldo Corbalán ◽

Esteban Barrera-Oro

Keyword(s):

Negative Impact ◽

Feeding Habits ◽

Euphausia Superba ◽

South Shetland Islands ◽

Arctocephalus Gazella ◽

The South ◽

Scotia Sea ◽

Shetland Islands ◽

Important Prey ◽

Fur Seals

ABSTRACT We studied the diet of non-breeding male Antarctic fur Seals Arctocephalus gazella (Peters, 1875) at two different localities of the South Shetland Islands: Stranger Point, King George Island/Isla 25 de Mayo and Duthoit Point, Nelson Island, by the analysis of 65 faecal samples collected in February 2012. Overall, Antarctic krill Euphausia superba (Dana, 1850) and fish were the main prey taxa followed by penguins and cephalopods. Myctophids were dominant among fish; Gymnoscopelus nicholsi (Gilbert, 1911) was the most important prey species at both sampling sites, followed by Electrona antarctica (Gunther, 1878) at Stranger Point and by the nototheniid Pleuragramma antarctica (Boulenger, 1902) at Duthoit Point. The relative similarity found in the dietary composition of fur seals from both locations suggest they might have been sharing common feeding areas. Our results were compared with those reported in the literature for different localities of the South Shetland Islands and the Scotia Sea region. The absence of formerly harvested demersal notothenioid species in the diet of fur seals may reflect the negative impact that commercial fisheries had on some fish populations and supports the importance of implementing long-term monitoring studies on the feeding habits of A. gazella in the area.

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Conserving the oldest historic sites in the Antarctic: the challenges in managing the sealing sites in the South Shetland Islands

Polar Record ◽

10.1017/s0032247409008389 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 46 (1) ◽

pp. 57-64 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Michael Pearson ◽

Ruben Stehberg ◽

Andrés Zarankín ◽

M. Ximena Senatore ◽

Carolina Gatica

Keyword(s):

South Shetland Islands ◽

The South ◽

Shetland Islands ◽

Fur Seals ◽

Fur Seal ◽

Seal Population ◽

Animal Activity ◽

South Shetlands ◽

The Antarctic ◽

Management Issues

ABSTRACTThe fur seal population of the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica, was intensively hunted by sealers from the discovery of the islands in 1819 to the early 1820s, by which time the seal numbers were so depleted that sealing became uneconomic. Sealing was revived for both fur seals and elephant seals at several periods later in the century. Sealers were put ashore in gangs and built makeshift shelters in which to live, and also occupied caves. Many of these have been identified on the various islands of the South Shetlands, and a number have been excavated. The paper addresses some of the management issues facing the conservation of these sites, which include accelerating tourism, disturbance by scientific researchers, disturbance by animal activity, burial or erosion by drifting sand, and climate change.

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