Whale-watching in a world of white

By Jo Chandler
Updated November 7 2012 - 3:03pm, first published January 5 2010 - 10:48am
Members of Team Minke  on the ice at Bunger Hills, Antarctica: (l-r) Shannon McKay, David Peel, Natalie Kelly, Dan Colborne, Rod Robertson, Amanda Hodgson and Josh Smith.Picture: JENNY McGHEEscientific aerial survey team
Members of Team Minke on the ice at Bunger Hills, Antarctica: (l-r) Shannon McKay, David Peel, Natalie Kelly, Dan Colborne, Rod Robertson, Amanda Hodgson and Josh Smith.Picture: JENNY McGHEEscientific aerial survey team

WHALE enthusiast Shannon McKay has swapped a busy Warrnambool summer for a chilly adventure in isolated Antarctica.The former Deakin University Warrnambool student studied marine biology and whale acoustics before becoming an official observer for the International Whaling Commission.Antarctica is now a second home for Ms McKay, who has ventured to the icy continent on several occasions for whale research.In her most recent expedition to Antarctica, Ms McKay joined a group of five scientists to observe minke whales.The aptly-named Team Minke was based 400 kilometres west of Casey research station and flew beyond the Shackleton Ice Shelf to explore uncharted territory.Over the past three summers Team Minke has been flying low over a meticulously-mapped route across the Antarctic coast over great fields of pack ice in search of minke whales. This is deep-field, frontier science, the mission to study and count the whales in habitats so thick with ice that ships can never penetrate to find them.Although Antarctic minke whales are the most abundant of the great whale species, research over the past 30 years has indicated an apparent decrease in their numbers, says expedition leader Dr Natalie Kelly. But whether this is the case is a point of deep contention in the whaling and scientific communities.One theory is that perhaps the minkes, one of the smallest species of baleen whales, have simply moved deeper into the pack ice to feed or to escape bigger whale predators, whose numbers are recovering, and have slipped beyond the gaze of ship-based surveyors. Whatever the case, better data is crucial to informing the international debate on future whaling.The aerial survey - the first in Antarctica using fixed-wing aircraft - attempts to answer some of the questions through a collaboration of scientists from the Australian Antarctic Division and CSIRO. The members of Team Minke bring a range of skills to the venture. Field leader Ms Kelly is a statistician whose expertise is in crunching the data underpinning the integrity of the survey. With her is CSIRO colleague Dr David Peel, also a statistician, and biologists, Dr Amanda Hodgson, Josh Smith and Ms McKay, who between them have clocked hundreds of hours doing aerial surveys from the tropics to the Antarctic.Once in the air Ms Kelly, Dr Peel, Mr Smith and Ms McKay, all on observer duty, take their seats at the windows, faces against the glass, eyes fixed on the sea, declinometers (to measure angles) in hand, headsets hooked up to record their sightings, which will later be analysed against the photographic data.As the pilots bring them onto the survey transect, cruising at an altitude of just 230 metres, Dr Hodgson crouches in a seat at the back liaising with the cockpit, monitoring the observers and keeping up a running commentary on the conditions out the window . In past years the team flew out of Casey research base. This year it has moved 400 kilometres west to camp at Bunger Hills for three weeks to allow it to venture further into uncharted territory, flying back and forth on transect legs for 30 minutes at a time, pausing between each leg to rest, snack and stretch. On good days it might clock up eight hours in the air.It's been Team Minke's best weather year, putting it ahead of schedule.Last year, the first season of full survey, covered about 3000 nautical miles over 40 flying hours, clocking up sightings of 76 minke whales, 372 killer whales and 27 of unknown species.At the mid-point of this season's planned 95 hours of survey, ''we are seeing a lot fewer whales than last year,'' says Ms Kelly. ''Perhaps it is because the sea ice is incredibly dense this year outside Casey . . . Last year we saw 40 minkes in one area alone and loads of penguins. "The survey is going beautifully. We've had great flying weather, the equipment is working, and the team is working well together.''The results of the work will be presented at the International Whaling Commission in Morocco in June. THE AGE

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