Accumulation of Fishing Debris, Plastic Litter, and Other Artefacts, on Heard and Macquarie Islands in the Southern Ocean

1991 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 249-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
David J. Slip ◽  
Harry R. Burton
Keyword(s):  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Catchment Area ◽  
Marine Debris ◽  
Minimum Rate ◽  
Macquarie Island ◽  
Fur Seals ◽  
Heard Island

Sections of coastline of Heard and Macquarie Islands were surveyed for marine debris in the summer of 1987–88 and 1989, respectively. These surveys were carried out at the same sites as previous surveys in 1986–87 at Heard Island, and in 1988 at Macquarie Island. The minimum rate of artefact accumulation was 13 objects per km of shoreline per year for Heard Island, and 90 objects per km of shoreline per year for Macquarie Island. Drift-cards, released from known locations and collected on the two islands, show a similar artefact catchment area.Plastic litter was a major component of the debris at both islands. Fisheries-related debris accounted for 40% of all artefacts on Heard Island, compared with 29% on Macquarie Island. Entanglement of Fur Seals appears to be more common at Heard Island, while plastic ingestion by seabirds appears to be more common at Macquarie Island.

Fur seal skull from sealers' quarters at Sandy Bay, Macquarie Island, Southern Ocean

Polar Record ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 27 (162) ◽  
pp. 245-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Townrow ◽  
P. D. Shaughnessy
Keyword(s):  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Arctocephalus Gazella ◽  
Archaeological Excavation ◽  
Antarctic Fur Seal ◽  
Macquarie Island ◽  
Fur Seals ◽  
Fur Seal ◽  
Antarctic Research ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Specific Identity

AbstractFur seals were exterminated from Macquarie Island about 20 years after discovery of the island in 1810. Their specific identity is unknown. Few fur seals were reported at the island until it was occupied by the Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions in 1948. Fur seal numbers are now increasing. An archaeological excavation at a sealers' quarters at Sandy Bay in 1988 revealed the fragmented skull of a young Antarctic fur sealArctocephalus gazella1.1 m below the surface in a layer dated in the 1870s and 1880s. This period coincides with the recovery of fur seal populations in the South Atlantic Ocean following earlier harvesting. Elsewhere it has been argued that the Antarctic fur seal is unlikely to have been the original fur seal at Macquarie Island because few individuals of that species are ashore in winter, which is the season when the island was discovered and fur-seal harvesting began. It is concluded that the Sandy Bay skull is from a vagrant animal.

New mammals recognised for Australia - Antarctic and Subantarctic Fur Seals Arctocephalus species

1992 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 77
Author(s):  
P.D. Shaughnessy
Keyword(s):  
Arctocephalus Gazella ◽  
Antarctic Fur Seal ◽  
Macquarie Island ◽  
Fur Seals ◽  
Fur Seal ◽  
Heard Island ◽  
Pinniped Species ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Subantarctic Fur Seals

Recent authoritative texts on Australian mammals include several pinniped species but most omit the Antarctic Fur Seal Arctocephalus gazella and Subantarctic Fur Seal A. tropicalis. The former species breeds at Heard Island; at Macquarie Island it breeds in territories with A. tropicalis. Information is tabulated on skulls of these two species held in Australian museums. It is argued that they should be included in comprehensive lists of Australian mammals.

Interspecific and intraspecific differences in the diets of Fur seals, Arctocephalus species (Pinnipedia: Otariidae) at Macquarie Island.

1990 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 193
Author(s):  
K. Green ◽  
R. Williams ◽  
K.A. asyde ◽  
P.D. Burton HR. and Shaughnessy
Keyword(s):  
Food Resources ◽  
Fish Diet ◽  
Macquarie Island ◽  
Fur Seals ◽  
Heard Island ◽  
Fish Remains

Between November 1988 and March 1989, scats were collected from three species of fur seals (Arctocephalus forsteri, A. gazella and A. tropicalis) at the northern end of Macquarie Island and from A. forsteri between January and March 1989 at the southern end. All fed mainly on fish. For A. gazella/A. tropicalis an average 99.2 % of scats in monthly collections contained fish remains, while for A. forsteri the figure for North Head was 100 % and for Hurd Point was 94.9 %. Arctocephalus forsteri at Hurd Point took less fish and more penguins than at North Head and there were significant differences in the composition of the fish diet in two of three months. At North Head, the fish diet of A. gazella/A. tropicalis differed significantly from that of A. forsteri in three of the five months studied . Food resources for fur seals around Macquarie Island are considered to be less available than they are around Heard Island.

Fur-seals at Heard Island: recovery from past exploitation?

1988 ◽  
pp. 71-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. D. Shaughnessy ◽  
G. L. Shaughnessy ◽  
P. L. Keage
Keyword(s):  
Fur Seals ◽  
Heard Island

scholarly journals High Lability Fe Particles Sourced From Glacial Erosion Can Meet Previously Unaccounted Biological Demand: Heard Island, Southern Ocean

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pier van der Merwe ◽  
Kathrin Wuttig ◽  
Thomas Holmes ◽  
Thomas W. Trull ◽  
Zanna Chase ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Glacial Erosion ◽  
Heard Island ◽  
High Lability

The composition of the milk of antarctic (Arctocephalus gazella) and subantarctic (A. tropicalis) fur seals at Macquarie Island

1999 ◽  
Vol 47 (6) ◽  
pp. 593 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon D. Goldsworthy ◽  
Helen M. Crowley
Keyword(s):  
Water Content ◽  
Energy Content ◽  
Post Partum ◽  
Milk Composition ◽  
Arctocephalus Gazella ◽  
Macquarie Island ◽  
Fur Seals ◽  
Fur Seal ◽  
Gross Energy ◽  
Subantarctic Fur Seals

The composition of milk collected from 36 antarctic (Arctocephalus gazella) and 17 subantarctic fur seals (A. tropicalis) breeding sympatrically at Macquarie Island was examined over the first 100 days of lactation in the 1990/91 season. The mean composition of milk in A. gazella and A. tropicalis was 41.3% and 44.6% water, 39.8% and 38.6% lipid, 18.1% and 16.1% protein, and the estimated gross energy content of milk was 19.9 and 18.9 kJ g–1, respectively. Neither the composition of milk nor its energy density differed significantly between species, despite a difference of 4–6 months in lactation length. Water content of milk could be used to predict lipid (r2 = 0.67) and protein (r2 = 0.57) content, but was most accurate at predicting gross energy content (r2 = 0.97). These relationships were the same for each species. The water content of milk decreased throughout the first 100 days of lactation in both species, while lipid, protein and energy content all increased. The addition of maternal mass into regression analysis with days post-partum increased the significance of models predicting the content of lipid and proteins in the milk, but not those predicting the water or gross energy content. Milk collected on the first day of 2-day attendance bouts had, on average, 9% greater lipid content, and 5% greater protein content than milk collected on the second day. The growth rates of subantarctic fur seal pups were significantly lower than those of antarctic fur seal pups over the first month of growth, suggesting that (despite similar milk composition, attendance patterns and diet of the two species of fur seal) the overall rates of energy transfer from mother to pup in subantarctic fur seals is lower than in antarctic fur seals.

scholarly journals An iron budget during the natural iron fertilisation experiment KEOPS (Kerguelen Islands, Southern Ocean)

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 6803-6837 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Chever ◽  
G. Sarthou ◽  
E. Bucciarelli ◽  
S. Blain ◽  
A. R. Bowie
Keyword(s):  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Dissolved Iron ◽  
Heard Island ◽  
Natural Iron ◽  
Particulate Iron ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The One ◽  
Iron Pool ◽  
Lateral Advection ◽  
Very High

Abstract. Total dissolvable iron (TDFe) was measured in the water column above and in the surrounding of the Kerguelen Plateau (Indian sector of the Southern Ocean) during the KErguelen Ocean Plateau compared Study (KEOPS) cruise. TDFe concentrations ranged from 0.90 to 65.6 nmol L−1 above the plateau and from 0.34 to 2.23 nmol L−1 offshore of the plateau. Station C1 located south of the plateau, near Heard Island, exhibited very high values (329–770 nmol L−1). Apparent particulate iron (Feapp), calculated as the difference between the TDFe and the dissolved iron measured on board (DFe) represented 95±5% of the TDFe above the plateau, suggesting that particles and refractory colloids largely dominated the iron pool. This paper presents a budget of DFe and Feapp above the plateau. Lateral advection of water that had been in contact with the continental shelf of Heard Island seems to be the predominant source of Feapp and DFe above the plateau, with a supply of 9.7±2.3×106 and 8.3±6.7×103 mol d−1, respectively. The residence times of 1.7 and 48 days estimated for Feapp and DFe, respectively, indicate a rapid turnover in the surface water. A comparison between Feapp and total particulate iron (TPFe) suggests that the total dissolved fraction is mainly constituted of small refractory colloids. This fraction does not seem to be a potential source of iron to the phytoplankton in our study. Finally, when taking into account the lateral supply of dissolved iron, the seasonal carbon sequestration efficiency was estimated at 154 000 mol C (mol Fe)−1, which is 4-fold lower than the previously estimated value in this area but still 18-fold higher than the one estimated during the other study of a natural iron fertilisation experiment, CROZEX.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document