2013 Antarctic Blue Whale Voyage to the Southern Ocean

This metadata record is a parent for all data collected during the 2013 Antarctic Blue Whale Voyage. Description of specific data sets can be found in the Voyage Science Plan and within child datasets.The Australian Government sponsored the 2013 Antarctic Blue Whale Voyage to develop methods and initiate research that will lead to a new estimate of abundance for blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus intermedia) in the Southern Ocean. Commercial whaling decimated this species, and the state of its recovery is currently unknown. The 65-m FV Amaltal Explorer was chartered for a 47-day voyage leaving from and returning to Nelson, New Zealand and conducting studies in Antarctic waters between 135 degrees E and 170 degrees W. This voyage was conducted as part of the Antarctic Blue Whale Project (ABWP) of the Southern Ocean Research Partnership (SORP). SORP is a consortium of ten countries working together on six collaborative research programs under the auspices of the International Whaling Commission (IWC). The 2013 voyage was conducted by Australia in the expectation that it would be the first in a series of such voyages by SORP partners that would, collectively, produce a new estimate of abundance for Antarctic blue whales.