South Georgia Newsletter, October 2008

From South Georgia Website

- Disclaimer: This newsletter is not produced by GSGSSI; it does not necessarily reflect their views.

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GIS Gives New Perspectives On South Georgia

The “impressive” new South Georgia Geographic Information System (SGGIS) has been launched publicly.

The South Georgia GIS will enable researchers and the public to see the Island’s environmental landscape in a completely new way. It combines a detailed interactive map of South Georgia with a variety of information from topography, vegetation and glacier change, to historic sites, protected areas and distributions of various animals such as seals and penguins.

The South Georgia Government commissioned BAS to create the SGGIS, which will be a valuable tool for the future environmental management of the Island, including the management of invasive species, the protection of vulnerable species and the long-term monitoring and management of tourist activities. BAS GIS manager Paul Cooper said, "The environment of South Georgia is very fragile and under pressure from introduced species, human activities and the effects of climate change. The SGGIS will help to minimise these impacts as the system provides more information than was previously available".

The system is also aimed at tourists planning to visit the Island, or anyone with an interest in South Georgia, to give them a greater understanding of the geography and environment. To view the SGGIS go to http://www.sggis.gov.gs/ and sign in as a guest. The window on the right will allow you to turn off and on various layers.

The SGGIS was unveiled on October 22nd in front of GSGSSI Chief Executive Harriet Hall and invited guests at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) headquarters in Cambridge, UK.

David Rootes, of ‘Poles Apart Ltd’ was at the launch and described the new GIS as “really impressive”. He thought the layer showing Shackleton's route across the Island in 1916 was “an interesting historical note”, and said, “The information in the many layers will prove useful tools for management.”

Visitor Management Plans

The South Georgia Government has announced that the first eight ‘Site Visitor Management Plans’ are complete.

The Visitor Management Plans (VMPs) include descriptions of features of the site such as the topography, wildlife and flora, and state the ‘Landing Requirements’ such as maximum ship size, maximum number of ships per day, and visitor to guide ratios. Maps and photos are used to show landing areas, and the closed areas that encompass such things as bird nesting areas, areas of special flora and whaling stations. The guides also state suitable behavior ashore, and the ‘Cautionary Notes’ mention some of the hazards such as katabatic winds or high densities of fur seals in the area. The sites covered include St Andrews Bay, Cooper Bay (Macaronis), Gold Harbour, Salisbury Plain, Cape Rosa, Godthul, and Fortuna Bay.

The VMP for the Shackleton Walk, from Fortuna to Stromness, includes a detailed route description with GPS positions.

With ever-increasing numbers of new ships (and yachts) arriving with new expedition staff on board, these plans will increasingly become important tools for the future management of visitors to the Island. In future all cruise ship expedition leaders and yacht masters will be required to refer to these plans when planning landings and whilst ashore.

The VMPs can be viewed on this website starting here, and downloadable pdf files can be printed out into A5 booklet versions.

GSGSSI would like to thank Kim Crosbie and Paul Shafi for the all their hard work that went into the production of these plans.

Hydroelectric Works Under Way Again

A ten-man ‘Morrison International Ltd’ team arrived in mid October to complete the works on the hydroelectric power station.

Site Agent Charlie Keating said the team’s main task is to complete the hydroelectric mechanical and electrical works prior to commissioning the power station, which should be complete by December 7th. Nearly 2 kilometers of 11kv highvoltage electric cable is being installed between the new power station and King Edward Point (KEP). By the end of October the run of cable through the whaling station had already been completed using a route avoiding the historic station remains. This work was done first to minimise disruption to tour ship visits.

The team also has several other smaller jobs including: finishing the civil works on the Gull Lake dam, where they will install a retainer wall behind the spillway; updating the electrics at the Museum; completing works on the jetty at KEP; and installing fenders on the Tijuca Jetty at Grytviken.

After six consecutive seasons working at Grytviken there is a lot of accumulated machinery and gear that is being back loaded, as shipping allows, throughout the summer.

A further two-man Morrison team will arrive in November on a BAS contract to dismantle and remove two field huts in the Mt Hodges area, and clean up the remains of another at Glacier Col. They will be assisted by the “HMS Endurance” helicopter to bring down the heavier items.

Fishing And Shipping News

Two Icefish trawlers returned to the fishery this month. Both vessels arrived in Cumberland Bay for inspection on October 12th before resuming fishing to the north-west of the Island. Catches were very good, limited only by the processing capacity of the ships, and both vessels completed their remaining Total Allowable Catch within two weeks.

A total of seven yachts have been around the Island during the month. Four of the yachts are on charter to expeditions, filming parties or small tourist groups. The other yachts are private vessels.

The first cruise ship of the season “National Geographic Endeavour” arrived at Grytviken on October 23rd, heralding the start of the busiest cruise ship season ever.

Keeping Track Of Elephant Seals

The Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU) have been at Husvik this month continuing their tagging programme on breeding Elephant Seals. The tagged seals were the subject of a report on UK Radio 4’s ‘World on the Move’ programme at the end of October, during which the presenter spoke on a satellite phone to Prof. Mike Fedak, who was standing on the beach at Husvik close to some Elephant Seals and describing the tagging work and seals’ behaviour. On the same programme Chadden Hunter, who was recently at St Andrews filming for the BBC Wildlife “Frozen Planet” series, described finding a tagged seal and getting a phone number from the tag. When he called the number he was amazed to soon find he was talking to Mike Fedak just up the coast at Husvik, who was able to tell him the seal had been at Elephant Island last year and that its tag data showed the female seal had taken a meandering course around the ocean and averaged 4 to 5 miles an hour to reach South Georgia this spring to pup.

The tags are allowing researchers to learn about the seals’ behaviour when they are at sea. Data shows the Elephant seals spend most of their time in deep dives, with very little time at the surface between. Data from one seal shown in the graph below shows each dive is about 30-40 minutes long, with generally less than 3 minutes between dives. The maximum depth this seal is known to have dived to is one mile (1.6 km), and its longest dive lasted 75 minutes.

Another tagged seal was found close to KEP, at Susa Point, on October 26th. She had been tagged last February after the moult, after which she left the Island and headed south-east until she hit the ice edge south of Bouvet Island. She stayed on the ice edge, moving north as the ice formed. On October 7th she was still 1000Km to the east of the Island, after which she came straight to Cumberland Bay to pup.

Data from other tags shows that almost all the seals tagged at South Georgia last summer returned again for this breeding season. Other seals tagged last year on Bouvet Island (in the central South Atlantic), and Livingston Island and King George Island off the east coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, have also come to South Georgia for this breeding season.

The four-person SMRU team at Husvik this month tagged a further ten adult female seals with the oceanographic profiling tags. The tags collect information on their migration and feeding patterns, and oceanographic data such as temperature and salinity. All the newly tagged seals left the Island within two or three days of being tagged and their tracks show them fanning out north-west to north-east of the Island. The colour change on the tracks in the diagram below shows the seals crossing the circumpolar front into warmer waters, data that is fed directly to the Meteorological Office.

The tagging is part of a wider programme called ‘Marine Mammal Exploration of the Oceans Pole to Pole’ (MEOP) which involves nine countries tagging about 100 Elephant Seals and Hooded Seals in various locations in the high latitudes. Natural Environment Research Council funds the UK project, called the ‘South Atlantic Variability Experiment’.

For further information look at the ‘SeaOS’ website at http://biology.st-andrews.ac.uk/seaos You can find the radio report here

Penguin Coin Short-listed For ‘Coin of the Year’

The ‘Coin of the Year’ awards, sponsored by Krause Publications, have nominated a South Georgia coin as one of ten to be considered in the category “Most Innovative Coinage Concept”.

The silver surround and crystal centred South Georgia penguin coin was the world’s first coin to be made of crystal. It was released in a limited edition of 5,000 in 2007.

Other coins in the category come from Australia, the Cook Islands, Cambodia, Palau, Poland and the British Virgin Islands.

Pobjoy Mint, who produce South Georgia coins on behalf of GSGSSI, produced three of the ten coins nominated.

The voting by representatives from mints, central banks and museums, and by journalists and numismatic experts, takes place in December.

South Georgia Coins, including the extraordinary crystal centred coin, can be viewed and bought from Pobjoy Mint website at http://www.pobjoy.com

“Quest” For A New Owner

“Quest”, the small inshore fishing vessel, is for sale after an eight-year career at South Georgia.

The 8.27 meter long vessel, weighing 5.8 tonnes, was built in 1984 and has been owned and operated by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) as a research fishing vessel at KEP since 2001. She was used to set nets in Cumberland Bay and to tow plankton trawls and temperature-depth recorders, and has been instrumental in building up a long data set for the area, building on former work of the pioneering Discovery Expeditions and the pre-conflict BAS station.

On October 29th “Quest” was lifted aboard the Fishery Patrol Vessel “Pharos SG” to be transported to Stanley, Falkland Islands, where she will be sold by sealed bid.

“Quest” is loaded aboard the FPV “Pharos SG” to be taken to Stanley for sale.

South Georgia Veteran Mountaineers Lead Expedition

Stephen Venables and Skip Novak are both veterans of South Georgia mountaineering, though Venables is better known for being the first Briton to climb Mt Everest without oxygen. The pair led a party of five others on the ‘Beyond Endurance Shackleton South Georgia Expedition’ across the Island following the Shackleton route from King Haakon Bay to Stromness. The expedition was inspired by the feats of Ernest Shackleton and his men in 1916 and had trained in Norway and Chamonix with Stephen Venables to improve their fitness, and mountaineering and cross country skiing skills in preparation. The expedition arrived in late October on the yacht “Pelagic Australis”, having sailed from the Falkland Islands. Dropped at King Haakon Bay, they were blessed with good weather for the traverse and tried to replicate the Shackleton route as closely as possible. Six days later they reached Stromness, having had “an incredible experience” and also having made two attempts to climb Mt Nicholls, which were thwarted by high winds.

The expedition is now enjoying seeing some of the wildlife at sea level and may return to Mt Nicholls in the next few days to try once more to climb it. Some of the expedition members are raising funds for charity. You can find out more about the expedition at their website http://www.beyondendurance.co.uk

Bird Island News

By Gorfou, Zoological Field Assistant at the British Antarctic Survey Base at Bird Island.

Following the Northern Giant Petrel’s example, lots of birds have laid eggs this month… From the small Pipits, of which some chicks from the first brood of this summer have already fledged, to the Grey-headed Albatrosses, which are going to spend the next six months incubating, brooding and feeding the single chick that they raise every two years.

All around the island Black-browed and Light-mantled Sooty Albatrosses are back in numbers now; they’ve started laying eggs too after a short courtship with their long-term partner.

Bird Island albatrosses in October

Gentoo Penguins, one of the few permanent residents of Bird Island, are also incubating their eggs, and the last two days of the month we have been busy counting the 4095 breeding pairs around the island. Macaroni Penguins, which left last April, are coming back for the summer; first the males, to defend the small pile of stones they use as a nest. It’s strange to see ‘Big Mac’ colony empty and quiet at the beginning of the week; then with just one penguin, which seems lost; then a second one, followed soon after by another one and another one. Like that about two thousand had reoccupied the colony at the end of the first week….Soon 40 thousand of them will change Goldcrest Point into the noisiest place on the island.

And all these activities on the island don’t stop during the night, thousands of prions and petrels take over till dawn displaying and calling at the entrance of their burrow where they will breed, protected from Skuas.

South Georgia Snippets

During October the ozone hole grew to be the second largest on record. The 2007 hole had been smaller than the record 2006 hole, leading to hopes that things were improving, but climatic conditions over the Antarctic have once again led to a bigger hole. The map below shows the hole stretching up over the South Georgia on October 30th.

Alan Huckle, the Commissioner for South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, and his wife Helen, made a flying visit on October 14th. They were hosted by the RAF 1312 Flight aboard a C-130 Hercules aircraft on routine patrol to South Georgia and enjoyed good views of the Island.

A National Geographic Magazine team of three arrived on charter yacht “Kotick” on October 4th. They are spending about six weeks diving and photographing at South Georgia. The same team did the Leopard Seal story in the November 2006 National Geographic Magazine.

The two two-man BBC film crews supported by charter yacht “Golden Fleece” completed the first of two phases filming on South Georgia this year for the BBC ‘Frozen Planet’ series and were pleased with the footage obtained. More BBC camera crews arrive in November to continue the work.

The Museum team arrived back in time for the cruise ship season to begin. Ainslie Wilson, the Shop Manager, arrived on the FPV a week before the Curator Elsa Davidson, and two Assistants Darren Cox and Steve Massam, who were on the first tour ship and raced ashore straight to work!

A British Antarctic Survey moored instrument array came free from its deep ocean mooring and bobbed up north of the Island, drifting northeastwards. With little shipping in the area, it was greatly appreciated by BAS that one of the two Icefish vessels on their way in for licensing was able to locate and recover the mooring, and valuable instruments that are attached to it. The BAS ship “RRS James Clark Ross” will redeploy the mooring later in the summer. The instruments measure oceanographic information such as temperature, salinity and tidal flow throughout the year.

Spring is now well advanced and the birds have flooded back ready to breed, and the Elephant Seals are already leaving again having pupped, fed and then weaned their pups which are now tucking themselves amongst the tussac clumps or littering the KEP jetty. The seal colony at KEP grew to a good size, about 220 females will have pupped here this summer. Unusually the females have split into two harems, one under Hope Point and one in the more usual spot near the jetty. However this is a double treat for webcam watchers as the two cameras are ideally placed to see both harems. At least three births were caught on the two cameras.

Elephant Seal pup’s tough first half hour of life.

Magnificent male Elephant Seal bull watches over his harem.

Another camera has been watching the seal’s more intimate moments. Sarah Lurcock is filming the breeding behaviour of the seals for researchers investigating the sexual habits of dinosaurs. Lacking live subjects, the researchers are looking at the behaviour of other large animals in the hope of working out the mechanics of dinosaurs reproduction.

Residents at King Edward Point were amazed to see the big dorsal fin of a male Orca (Killer Whale) in the entrance to King Edward Cove on October 22nd. Although whales are regularly seen in Cumberland Bay, no one has seen one so close in as this before.

“And then there was one”…….just one King Penguin chick is left of the four hatched before winter at Penguin River. The chick has been joined by about thirty moulting adult birds, which must improve its chance of survival; the other birds will help fend off predatory birds such as Skuas and Giant Petrels. Can it make it through to fledge?

View Of The Month

Don’t forget to see this month’s 'View of the Month' on the South Georgia Heritage Trust website.

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