CCAMLR

A preliminary survey on 2 species of penguins, chinstrap and gentoo was made in the penguin rookery on Barton peninsula near King Sejong Station during 1992/93 breeding season based on the CCAMLR standard method. A total of 96 nests for chinstraps and 121 nests for gentoos were monitored to document breeding chronology and give a measure of breeding success. The nests to be monitored were selected from several locations scattered in the colony. The nests were visited by 2-3 day interval and the change in the nest content were followed. Chicks were hatched out at 50% of the monitored nests on 18. December and 25, December respectively for gentoos and chinstraps. The number of chicks per nest which were raised successfully to the creche stage was used as a measure of breeding success. Of the whole nests which had been checked from the beginning of the observation. 1.45 chinstrap chicks and 1.32 gentoo chicks were raised to the creche stage. Of the nests which were active until the conclusion of the breeding success measurement. 1.67 chinstrap chicks and 1.54 gentoo chicks reached the creche stage. The growth of chicks were measured from the beginning of January to the beginning of February. Chinstraps grew from 0.61 to 3.43 kg and gentoos from 0.56 to 4.59 kg during the measurement period. After the chicks entered late creche stage, they were banded to determine the survival and return rates in the following years. Some suggestion for the further research in this rookery are also mentioned.

The effects of flipper bands, implanted tags/gastric lavage and external instrument attachment on the performance of Adelie penguins were investigated over three seasons at Bechervaise Island, Mac. Robertson Land, Antarctica. The return rates of birds carrying bands and/or implanted electronic transponders were compared to investigate the contribution of bands to bird mortality and to determine rates of band and tag loss. There was a reduction in return rates of birds banded for more than one season, but no evidence of band or tag loss over a single winter. The attachment of satellite tracking devices during the incubation period or for several consecutive trips during chick rearing resulted in increased foraging trip durations and reduced breeding success. Attachment for a single foraging trip post-hatching caused no significant increase in foraging trip durations nor any detectable effect on water turnover rates. No reduction in fledging rates of chicks from nests of stomach lavaged birds was detected over two breeding seasons. The implications of these findings for the CCAMLR Ecosystem Monitoring Program are discussed.

Diving behaviour of Chinstrap penguins (Pygoscelis antarctica) was recorded continuously by time-depth recorders from two adults breeding chicks. Their diving behaviour could be split into bouts by using log frequency method. Organization of dive bouts does not differ within each individuals among days on which dives are recorded but differed between individuals, suggesting that ecological and physiological restrictions differed between the two individuals.

Indices of predator reproductive status are calculated for CEMP parameters such as penguin weight, penguin chick weight, foraging duration, chick diet, and fur seal pup growth rates (Methods A1 - A9, B1-B2 and C1-C2) using data held at the CCAMLR Data Centre. Preliminary statistical and graphical analyses of the trends shown by the indices are also presented.

The position of the sea ice edge around the Antarctic continent was digitised into MAPINFO GIS software from the Joint Ice Centre weekly charts of sea ice distribution. The digitised images were then used to calculate the distance of the ice edge from CEMP sites throughout the year. These data are used to construct several of the indices associated with CEMP Environmental Monitoring Method F2: sea ice.

The use of time-depth recorders has revolutionised knowledge of diving activity of marine animals to the point where very detailed studies of variation in diving behaviour and performance between individuals, seasons and years are possible. The degree to which the sampling interval selected effects detection of dives and statistics of diving behaviour is investigated, using data from Antarctic fur seals and southern elephant seals representative of the extremes of diving in pinnipeds.
For both species the proportion of surface intervals recognised incorrectly (i.e. real dives artificially concatenated) increased monotonically as sampling interval increased. Effects were especially marked for fur seals: an increase in interval from 5s to 15s resulted in 20% of dives being unrecognised, a 38% increase in mean maximum dive depth, a 29% increase in mean dive duration and a 12% increase in duration of surface interval. In elephant seals an increase in interval from l0s to l00s produced changes of 10%. 5%, 13% and 18% respectively. Choice of sampling interval can therefore create significant biases, especially for species with diving characteristics similar to fur seals; critical comparisons should be confined to data collected using similar sampling intervals.