Life on the Sea

Today we had two mandatory lectures, IAATO guidelines and Zodiac Protocols. IAATO is the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators and has established various guidelines to regulate Antarctic travel and reduce the potential impacts of tourism.  The Zodiacs are the black inflated small boats that bring us to shore for excursions.  The staff took attendance at each lecture to make sure that every passenger got the information.  The IAATO powerpoint presentation was given to our expedition leader to present to the ship.  It was very thorough and got all the main points across such as maintaining appropriate distance, use soft voices and slow movements around wildlife, wash boots after returning to the ship, and many more.  One thing that was lacking was the “why” for all of the guidelines.  I was left wondering, why is 15 feet the appropriate distance for approaching wildlife?  If someone gets too close, what are the consequences?  What is an example of an instance where someone brought pathogens from one Antarctic island to another to justify this boot-washing rule?  I knew some of these answers because of the fall course and reading assignments but others may not be as educated about polar travel.  I think more details would result in higher compliance because people would understand the consequences of ignoring these guidelines.

After the lectures, they had us vacuum our pockets and bags to make sure that we are not bringing foreign contaminants or species onto the continent.  They had everyone sign a declaration but did not monitor to see how well you did it.  This is one of the things we noted in our project observations.

I was able to chat with one of the Oceanites researchers a bit today.  Oceanites is a nonprofit organization that is most well known for their Antarctic Site Inventory which is a large collection of physical and biological data from 1994 to 2015.  These researchers are surveying the penguin colonies that we visit, counting the number of nests (an indication of population size) and also documenting their habitats.  The researcher explained that they can reconstruct penguin habitats into 3D images that help them study behavior.  They are also looking at colony behavior, specifically trying to determine at what point penguins create a new colony.  She told me about one theory that they make a new colony to avoid predators but if this were true, they would likely huddle in circles to minimize exposed penguins but in reality, their huddling and colonies take all different kinds of shapes.

I am amazed at how much wildlife there is in this southern ocean.  We saw several humpback whales, chinstrap penguins swimming next to our ship, and hundreds of seabirds following us.  It is incredible that penguins can make it this far out!