MARINE SECRETS

Taranaki Daily News, 8 February 1934, Page 13

MARINE SECRETS

RESEARCH SHIP’S WORK STUDY OF WHALES’ HABITS. DAIRY OBSERVATIONS TAKEN. Scientific research of an advanced order under arduous conditions is the essence of life on the Royal research ship Discovery 11., which is pow lying against Prince’s Wharf while the crew enjoy a respite from the crowded days of work in the Antarctic seas. To the unscientific observer her businesslike decks mean very little and it is hard to realise that she is the finest research ship afloat. Every inch of her space has been planned following the experience gained in many other ships of her kind. She differs from most of her predecessors in the comfortable quarters for her ship’s company. It had been realised that her work necessitated almost continuous life aboard and that far better results would be possible by the provision of good working conditions. The broad idea of the work of the Discovery investigation is the study of the the distribution of whales. The indiscriminate taking of the apparently unlimited supply of whales has caused the Government of the Falkland Islands concern as to the possibility of their extermination. For some years now a succession of research ships manned by crews well versed in a specialised form of navigation and staffed by scientists who are making a life’s study of marine life, have worked quietly and efficiently in this most useful work. DIET OF SHRIMPS. The distribution of the whales is determined by a long chain of causes and effects. The Antarctic whales feed on' animals of the shrimp type and these •feed on the “krill,” a microscopic plant population. The distribution of the krill depends on many factors, the intensity of the light, the nutritive salts in the water, the depth of the ocean, the temperature of the water, and the presence of ice. Again, the whale population varies in the same place from year to year, both in density and in the types of whale. Thus, successive observations have to be made in the same place. At least once a day a complete set of data is collected. The ship is hove to and the scientific staff and their assistants from the crew take up their stations. Then, with a skill born of long practice, the various sets of gear are adjusted to be sent overboard. The daily observation is usually done at eight o’clock each evening. . This is because the dorms' of sea life in whicn the expedition is most interested come nearer the surface by night and recede by day. Well-placed electric lights enable this work to go on without inconvenience. The water sampling bottles are set on the lines to operate at different depths. The bottles are strong metal cylinders, which are sealed when inverted. When the whole series are in the desired position a weight is sent down the cable. On reaching the first bottle this turns it over, thus trapping a sample, of sea water at that depth and fixing the thermometer that is inside the steel cylinder. At the same time there is released a second weight which travels on to the next cylinder to repeat the performance. This goes on right down to the last bottle and the whole series is then slowly and carefully hauled to the surface. SAMPLES OF MARINE LIFE. From the other stations of the ship nets are lowered to different depths to take special samples of marine life. These nets vary from those of the finest pilk, which are capable of trapping the most minute forms .of life, to the nets of large mesh, which take up the shrimp life which forms the actual feed of the whales. When necessary, other forms of life are taken as these have a bearing, directly or indirectly, on the general distribution of the whales.