Penguin census by air planned

Press, 5 December 1981, Page 12

Penguin census by air planned

Nelson reporter Two members of the D.S.I.R. Ecology Division, Nelson, Mr R. H. Taylor and Dr P. R. Wilson, will fly to McMurdo Sound to make an aerial penguin census. The two men. both scientists and both experienced in aerial census work, will fly by Australian Air Force Hercules aircraft to the Antarctic and. depending on the weather and other conditions, will make the aerial survey while returning to New Zealand on board another Australian Hercules. The area to be surveyed is about 1600 km of coastline in the Ross Sea. from Ross

Island to the Balleny Islands. It is not mere curiosity about the numbers of penguins — mostly the small Adelie penguins — distributed in colonies along the shoreline that sends the two men on this photographic mission.

Mr Taylor said the present estimated total populations were about 800,000 breeding pairs of Adelie penguins and about 50,000 breeding pairs of the Emperor penguin in designated colonies. The review, which has been postponed continually mainly because of the unavailibility of a suitable aircraft, was resubmitted this year as a

New Zealand contribution to the International Survey of Antarctic Seabirds. Mr Taylor said that birds were an imporant part of the marine food chain, and. because they were easily seen, were good indicators of the continued health and balance of the Antarctic ecosystem. Potential hazards ’to the ecosystem included krill harvesting. mineral exploitation, waste disposal, oil pollution, and direct human disturbance of wildlife. It was necessary, therefore. that monitoring both natural and man-induced changes be done, said Mr Taylor. He said by using standardised techniques, an aerial photographic census would allow valid comparisons to be made between different penguin colonies and provide an objective baseline from which to monitor population trends throughout the Ross Sea region. He and Mr Wilson would take oblique photographs from the Hercules, probably through a window but perhaps through an open port, while flying at 300 metres. The photographs would be analysed when processed in Nelson, and the head counts made.

While awaiting the aircraft, the two men will also make a ground survey of one of the closest colonies to McMurdo Station.

It is estimated that at Cape Adare there are about 289,500 breeding pairs of Adelie penguins and another 130,000 at Possession Island and 102,000 at Cape Crozier. The biggest colony of Emperors is thought to be at Coulman Island (25,000 breeding pairs), with another 11,700 at Cape Roget.