Fieldwork was undertaken on Voyage 7 of 1997/98 season (April/May 1998) aboard Aurora Australis. The plan was to repeat the transect sampled in September 1996 to investigate seasonal differences between Spring and Autumn. We anticipated being able to sample further south on this voyage because the ice would be at close to its minimum extent. Sixteen stations were successfully sampled with the MIDOC multiple opening/closing net at 1000-750m, 750-500m, 500-250m and 250-0m depth ranges. The stations were at the following approximate positions: 47o14S:145o43E, 47o57S:145o14E, 49o54S:144o28E, 50o28S:144o15E, 51o15S:144o45E, 52o04S:144o24E, 52o59S:144o52E, 54o00S:145o01E, 53o59S:145o56E, 53o37S:144o32E, 57o00S:145o08E, 59o00S:144o56E, 58o12S:145o44E, 63o41S:139o03E, 64o17S:140o41E, 61o03S:139o40E. It was originally intended to sample 18 stations, some of which during both day and night, for a total of 26 samples, but consistently bad weather and the necessity to divert to Davis to pick up helicopters prevented the full programme being completed. However, data for the transect sampled in September of 1996 are available as a collection in the biodiversity database at the provided URL - MIDOC Fish catch from 1996/97 Voyage 1 WASTE (WOCE Antarctic Southern Transect Expedition).

A series of 6 sets of midwater trawls in Prydz Bay. Each trawl set took place over a 24 hour period to test the extent of diurnal vertical migration in P. antarcticum. Part of the KROCK cruise of Aurora Australis. These data have been incorporated into an 'historical fish database' available for download at the URL given below (Access Database). These data have also been included in the Australian Antarctic Data Centre's Biodiversity database, and have been submitted to GBIF and OBIS (Global Biodiversity Information Facility, and Ocean Biogeographic Information System). The fields in this dataset are: Species Cruise Start Date End Date Sampling Date Vessel Name Fishing Area Latitude Longitude Gear Length Weight Sex Gonad Weight Stomach Weight

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.