CCAMLR

This paper describes the first detection of Brucella sp. antibodies in pinnipeds from Cape Shirreff, Livingston Island, South Shetlands, Antarctica. Sixteen Antarctic fur seal (Arctocephalus gazella) and one Weddell seal (Leptonychotes weddellii) sera were tested by the Rose Bengal test (RBT), complement fixation test (CFT), immunodiffusion (AGID) and c-ELISA.
Antibodies against Brucella sp. were detected with the RBT, the CFT and the c-ELISA in six of the seventeen samples involving the two animal species.
It is concluded that a Brucella sp. described as affecting marine mammals in the Northern hemisphere could be also present in the Antarctic territory.

Most (52%) of the 306 debris items found in association with seabirds at Marion Island, during the season May 1998 to April 1999, originated from the fishing industry. The most common items found were rope nooses (79) and fishing hooks (28), both originating from the Patagonian toothfish Dissostichus eleginoides longline industry. Wandering albatrosses Diomedea exulans took the highest proportion of fishing gear, followed by southern giant petrels Macronectes giganteus. Standardized searches of wandering albatross study colonies showed that there had been a slight decrease in the accumulation rate of marine debris, and in particular fishing gear, since the 1997/98 season, however, these levels were still much higher than the 1996/97 season. This is consistent with a decrease in the number of unsanctioned fishing vessels present in the close vicinity of the island. Standardized searches of greyheaded mollymawk nests also showed a dramatic decrease since 1997. An adult wandering albatrosses was found with a hook through its wing, while the carcasses of a wandering albatross chick and an adult northern giant petrel Macronectes halli were found with ingested Patagonian toothfish hooks.