This dataset is a spreadsheet with planimetric areas of the seabed within the Heard Island and McDonald Islands Marine Reserve and adjacent Conservation Zone. The areas are provided for one hundred metre depth ranges and are given in square kilometres. The areas were calculated for the Wildlife Conservation and Fisheries research group at the Australian Antarctic Division. Depth data was sourced from a bathymetric grid of the Kerguelen Plateau by R.J.Beaman of James Cook University, Australia and P.E.O'Brien of Geoscience Australia and published by Geoscience Australia. See a Related URL below for a link to the metadata record describing the bathymetric grid. The Marine Reserve and Conservation Zone boundaries were sourced from the Australian Government's Australian Marine Parks Division. See the provided URL for a link to the department's website.

Edited version of a video showing three elephant seals interacting with a toothfish longline. Taken from the abstract of the referenced paper: Humans have devised fishing technologies that compete with marine predators for fish resources world-wide. One such fishery for the Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) has developed interactions with a range of predators, some of which are marine mammals capable of diving to extreme depths for extended periods. A deep-sea camera system deployed within a toothfish fishery operating in the Southern Ocean acquired the first-ever video footage of an extreme-diver, the southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina), depredating catch from longlines set at depths in excess of 1000m. The interactions recorded were non-lethal, however independent fisheries observer reports confirm elephant seal-longline interactions can be lethal. The seals behaviour of depredating catch at depth during the line soak-period differs to other surface-breathing species and thus presents a unique challenge to mitigate their by-catch. Deployments of deep-sea cameras on exploratory fishing gear prior to licencing and permit approvals would gather valuable information regarding the nature of interactions between deep diving/dwelling marine species and longline fisheries operating at bathypelagic depths. Furthermore, the positive identification by sex and age class of species interacting with commercial fisheries would assist in formulating management plans and mitigation strategies founded on species-specific life-history strategies.

The RAN Australian Hydrographic Service conducted hydrographic survey HI290 at Heard Island, February to March 1997. The survey dataset, which includes the Report of Survey, was provided to the Australian Antarctic Data Centre by the Australian Hydrographic Office and is available for download from a Related URL in this metadata record. The survey was lead by LT R.D.Bowden. The spatial extent given in this metadata record is that of Heard Island as the spatial extent of the survey is unknown to the Australian Antarctic Data Centre. The data are not suitable for navigation.

Ship-based observations of birds, seals and whales from the original 'ANARE Bird Log' books have been recovered into a single repository of sightings and associated abiotic information. ANARE (Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions) is the historic acronym for these voyages. A few voyages have been included that were not part of ANARE but have Australian observers or volunteer observers. Voyages start from the 1947/48 austral season up to 1982/83 with an average of 3 voyages per season. There are a few voyages where there is no data. It is not known if either no bird observations were undertaken during this period or that the bird logs exist if observations were undertaken. Current counts are birds, seals and whales Observing platforms include the following ships - Wyatt Earp, Tottan, River Fitzroy, Norsel, Kista Dan, Thala Dan, Magga Dan, Nella Dan, Lady Franklin and Nanok S and a single voyage from the private yacht Solo. The quality and quantity of abiotic data associated with observations such as air temperature, sea ice cover etc vary immensely from voyage to voyage. Where possible this data has been entered. This dataset contains very little information on estimates of survey effort and cannot be used to derive useful presence/absence spatial coverages of species during this period. It is purely sighting data only.

Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme Bird Banding records from the Australian Antarctic Territory and Heard Island, a subset of banding and recovery records from within Australian Antarctic Territory and Heard Island. The Australian Government under the auspices of the Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme (ABBBS) manages the collation of information on threatened and migratory bird and bat species. The information provided spans from 1953 to the present, and contains over 2 million records. This set comprises records of banding and recovery in the Australian Antarctic territory. Records are also included if the bird was recovered or banded outside this region. The ABBBS site is at http://www.environment.gov.au/science/bird-and-bat-banding.

Marine debris records from beaches on Heard and Macquarie Islands and floating debris spotted on voyages. Data were collected by observers surveying beaches either methodically or opportunistically, and by observers spotting debris as it floated past ships. The data were originally collated into a searchable database, but the application is no longer supported by the Australian Antarctic Data Centre. An extract of the data is attached to this metadata record. The extract is in Excel format, and each worksheet is a copy of a database table.

Public summary for project 2128: The aim of this study is to relate the foraging behaviour of Antarctic fur seals breeding on the Kerguelen Plateau at Iles Kerguelen and Heard Island, to the distribution of prey species at sea. Specifically this project seeks to examine the relationship between predators and prey, and how their locations at sea vary according to the position of major productive zones, such as the Antarctic Polar Frontal Zone. This project will provide important data on the relationship between predators and their prey and the developing commercial fisheries in the region. These data are central to improved conservation and management of marine resources on the Kerguelen Plateau. Variations made to the work plan The original comparative aspects of the program planned for the 1999/00 season, where fur seals from Iles Kerguelen and Heard Island were to be satellite tracked simultaneously could not be undertaken because of original 1999/00 field season to Heard Island was re-scheduled to 2000/01. Fortunately the project collaborator Dr Christophe Guinet (French CEBC-CNRS) agreed to extend the work program at Iles Kerguelen another season, and the comparative and integrated fur seal-prey-fisheries study over the Kerguelen Plateau was undertaken the following season (2000/01). Details of this study are presented in ASAC project 1251 (CI - Goldsworthy)and 1085 (CI-Robertson). Significant findings: The distribution of the foraging activity of Antarctic fur seal females was investigated at Cap Noir (49 degrees 07 S, 70 degrees 45E), Kerguelen Island in February 1998. Eleven females were fitted with a satellite transmitter and Time Depth recorder. The two sets of data were combined to locate spatially the diving activity of the seals. The fish component of the fur seal diet was determined by the occurrence of otolotihs found in 55 scats collected during the study period at the breeding colony. Oceanographic parameters were obtained simultaneously through direct sampling and satellite imagery. The mesopelagic fish community was sampled on 20 stations along four transects where epipelagic trawls were conducted at night at 50 meters of depth. We then investigated, using geographic information systems, the relationship between the spatial distribution of the diving activity of the fur seals and oceanographic factors that included sea surface temperature, surface chlorophyll concentration, prey distribution and bathymetry obtained at the same spatio-temporal scale as the spatial distribution of the diving activity of our study animals. An inverse relationship was found between the main fish species preyed by fur seal and those sampled in trawl nets. However, the diving activity of Antarctic fur seal females was found to be significantly related to oceanographic conditions, fish-prey distribution and to the distance from the colony but these relationships changed with the spatial scale investigated. A probabilistic model of the Kerguelen Plateau was developed that predicted where females should concentrate their foraging activity according to the oceanographic conditions of the year, and the locations of their breeding colonies. Maternal allocation in growth of the pup was measured in Antarctic fur seals (Arctocephalus gazella) at Iles Kerguelen during the 1997 austral summer. Absolute mass gain of pups following a maternal foraging trip was independent of the sex of the pup but was positively related to the foraging trip duration and to maternal length. However, daily mass gain, i.e. the absolute mass gain of the pup divided by the foraging trip duration, decreased with increasing foraging trip duration but increased with maternal length. While fasting, the daily mass loss of the pup was related to the sex of the pup and initial body mass, with both heavier pups and female pups losing more mass per day than lighter pups and male pups. The mass specific rate of mass loss was significantly higher in female pups than in male pups. Over the study period, the mean growth rate was zero with no difference between female and male pups. The growth rate in mass of the pup was positively related to maternal length but not maternal condition, negatively related to the foraging trip duration of the mother and the initial mass of the pup. This indicated that during the study period heavier pups grew more slowly due to their higher rate of daily mass loss during periods of fasting . Interestingly, for a given maternal length, the mean mass of the pup during the study period was higher for male than for female pups, despite the same rate of daily mass gain. Such differences are likely to result from sex differences in the mass specific rate of mass loss. As female pups lose a greater proportion of their mass per day, a zero growth rate i.e. mass gain only compensates for mass loss, is reached at a lower mass in female pups compared to male pups. Our results indicate that there are no differences in maternal allocation according to the sex of the pup but suggest that both sexes follow a different growth strategy. Results are in line with the objectives of the project. animal_id (identifier of the individual animal) location_class (the Argos location class quality, 0-3) latitude (decimal degrees) longitude (decimal degrees) observation_date (the date of observation, in ISO8601 format yyyy-mm-ddTHH:MM:SSZ. This information is also separated into the year, month, day, etc components) observation_date_year (the year of the observation date) observation_date_month (the month of the observation date) observation_date_day (the day of the observation date) observation_date_hour (the hour of the observation date) observation_date_minute (the minute of the observation date) observation_date_time_zone (the time zone of the observation date) deployment_longitude (location that the tracker was deployed, decimal longitude) deployment_latitude (location that the tracker was deployed, decimal latitude) trip (the identifier of the trip made by this animal) at_sea (whether this point was at sea (1) or on land (0)) complete (was this trip complete - i.e. did the animal return to the colony) scientific_name (scientific name of the tracked animal)

This dataset contains environmental layers used to model the predicted distribution of demersal fish bioregions for the paper: Hill et al. (2020) Determining Marine Bioregions: A comparison of quantitative approaches, Methods in Ecology and Evolution. It contains climatological variables from satellite and modelled data that represent sea floor and sea surface conditions likely to affect the distribution of demersal fish including: depth, slope, seafloor temperatures, seafloor current, seafloor nitrate, sea surface temperature, chlorophyll-a standard deviation and sea surface height standard deviation. Layers are presented at 0.1 degree resolution. "prediction_space" is a Rda file for R that consists of two objects: env_raster: a raster stack of the environmental layers pred_sp: a data.frame version of the env_raster where some variables have been transformed for statistical analysis and bioregion prediction. "Env_data_sources.xlsx" contains a description of each environmental variable and it's source.

This integrated stock assessment for the Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) fishery at the Heard Island and the McDonald Islands in CCAMLR Division 58.5.2, with data until end of July 2015, is based on the best available estimates of model parameters, the use of abundance estimates from a random stratified trawl survey (RSTS), longline tag-release data from 2012-2014 and longline tag-recapture data from 2013-2015, and auxiliary commercial composition data to aid with the estimation of year class strength and selectivity functions of the trawl, longline and trap sub-fisheries.All model runs were conducted with CASAL version 2.30-2012-03-21 (Bull et al. 2012). The assessment model leads to an MCMC estimate of the virgin spawning stock biomass B0 = 87 077 tonnes (95% CI: 78 500-97 547 tonnes). Estimated SSB status in 2015 was 0.64 (95% CI: 0.59-0.69). Using this model, a catch limit of 3405 tonnes satisfies the CCAMLR decision rules. Similarly to the 2014 assessment, the projected stock remains above the target level for the entire projection period.

Australian vessels fishing in the Commonwealth managed fishery for Patagonian Toothfish and mackerel icefish in the Heard Island and MacDonald Island area deployed conductivity, temperature and depth (CTD) loggers attached to their fishing gear. In most cases CTDs were deployed on demersal longlines but in some cases they were attached to trawl nets and traps. Data were collected on five fishing vessels during the fishing seasons of 2019/20 and 2020/21 The data were collected with a CTD (Conductivity, Temperature and Depth Recorder) from the Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU) at St Andrew’s University Scotland. Files were downloaded with their TagConfig software in text (.txt) format. Recordings were made at (typically) 1 second intervals for the duration of the fishing event, recording data throughout the water column while setting the gear, then while fishing on the sea floor and again through the water column when the gear was retrieved. Each data file has data on date/time, pressure referenced to surface pressure (dbar), absolute pressure (dbar), temperature (°C), conductivity *mS/cm) and salinity (psu). The data are currently not linked to geographical coordinates which are confidential, but these may be able to be released on contact with the data owner and subject to appropriate confidentiality arrangements. Number of deployments: 2019/20: 25 2020/21: 27