H-29 



RESEARCH PROGRAMMES 



3. Observations should be made from ships, including icebreakers, and aircraft, to establish 

 distributions, estimate densities and absolute abundance of, in particular, protected whale 

 species such as the Blue and Humpback, seals and birds in the pack ice, and birds and whales in 

 the open sea. Seals cannot be counted in the water and counts on the pack ice give a minimal 

 estimate of abundance. To resolve this problem, behavioural observations in the pack ice will be 

 necessary using the telemetry developed for studies of Weddell Seals in fast ice areas. If the age 

 structure of the population is known, estimates of the abundance of birds, Elephant, Weddell or 

 Fur seals, a portion of whose stocks concentrates on land or fast ice to breed, can be made by 

 extrapolation from counts of breeding birds or seal pups. These counts can be made on the 

 ground or from aerial photographs, but must be carried out before the breeding birds or seal 

 pups disperse. Differential dispersal at sea by season, sex and age means that direct counts of 

 the total population of land breeders are not possible. Information on the distribution and 

 abundance of small whales is almost totally lacking and indirect methods such as radio- and 

 sonic-tagging and hydrophone arrays must be employed. (Objectives 1 and 3) 



4. Information from scientific research needs to be supplemented by data from whaling 

 and sealing operations. The most direct way of evaluating estimates of sustainable yields is by 

 using data on catches and effort to determine the effect of various levels of exploitation on the 

 stocks. A programme of pelagic research captures from specially equipped whaling vessels such 

 as the Norwegian Peder Huse, which was a combined whale catcher and factory ship, and from 

 other vessels, including icebreakers for the seals in the pack ice, is necessary to complement and 

 extend the results from commercial operations. (Objective 2) 



5. Existing marking programmes should be continued and new ones developed, especially 

 for smaller species. Methods should also be developed for the study of individual whales, seals 

 and birds, possibly including satellite tracking, radiotelemetry and sonic tagging. (Objectives 1 

 and 3) 



6. Marking/recapture data, studies of population genetics, morphometries and other 

 indicators of discrete populations should be used to establish unit stocks. Much can also be 

 learned from captured seals without having to kill them-for example, by collection of blood 

 samples for serological and reproductive studies, and of nails for age determination. (Objectives 

 1 , 2 and 4) 



7. For animals killed during commercial operations, in research operations using special 

 ships and in shore-based work, the following basic studies are required: 



(a) Morphometries. 



(b) Age determination to establish growth rates, population structure and natural 

 mortality rates, and age-specific reproductive parameters. Good age criteria exist for a 

 number of species from earlier studies; for example, annual layers in teeth (dentine or 

 cement), nails or ear plugs. Because of the numerous age groups, relatively large 

 samples will be needed. 



(c) Analysis of reproductive state and reproductive history. This would include 

 back-calculation of age at puberty of marine mammals from ear plug and tooth 

 structure to establish possible trends in the mean age at puberty. Age-specific and 

 time-specific pregnancy rates are also required for the mammals and, similarly, 

 breeding success for birds. 



(d) Investigation of food habits and ecological separation by species, sex and age. 

 Preliminary studies indicate a more or less clear ecological separation in terms of 

 geographical distribution, feeding depth stratification, adaptations for feeding 

 (morphology, visual pigments) and food preferences. More detailed quantitative 

 information is needed to refine existing knowledge and to establish possible seasonal 

 and geographical differences. 



