RV Investigator Voyage IN2016_V01 Seabird Observations

Seabird and incidental cetacean and seal sightings were recorded during daylight hours during the entire voyage. During the voyage, there was 2,581 transect counts of seabirds of 61 species. Coverage was good over the area around Heard and McDonald islands, with some coverage also of Gunnari Ridge. Also covered some deeper parts of the Central Kerguelen Plateau. There were 31 sightings of sea mammals away from the immediate vicinity of Heard and McDonald islands (fur seals were sufficiently common in waters around Heard and McDonald Island to be treated using the same method as for seabirds). Sightings included five species of whales and three species of dolphins. The most intriguing series of sightings comprised seven sightings (approximately eight animals) of blue whales over Gunnari Ridge on 9/10 February (another sighting on 21 January may have been in the same area, as it was approximately 1° north and 1° west of the February sightings)The data has been published to the Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS https://obis.org).

本航行全程于日间记录了海鸟、偶见鲸类及鳍足类动物的目击数据。航行期间，共完成2581条海鸟样线计数，涉及61个物种。调查覆盖情况良好的区域为赫德岛和麦克唐纳群岛（Heard and McDonald Islands）周边海域，同时对冈纳里海岭（Gunnari Ridge）部分区域及凯尔盖朗中央高原（Central Kerguelen Plateau）的部分深水区开展了覆盖。在赫德岛和麦克唐纳群岛周边以外海域，共记录到31次海洋哺乳动物目击事件；赫德岛和麦克唐纳群岛周边海域的海狗种群数量极为常见，因此采用与海鸟相同的调查方法进行统计。本次目击记录涵盖5种鲸类与3种海豚。最引人关注的一组目击序列为2月9日至10日在冈纳里海岭海域记录到的7次蓝鲸目击事件，涉及约8头个体；1月21日的一次疑似同类目击事件发生在该区域以北1°、以西1°的位置，或属于同一海域范围。本数据集已发布至海洋生物多样性信息系统（Ocean Biodiversity Information System, OBIS，https://obis.org）。