This indicator is no longer maintained, and is considered OBSOLETE. INDICATOR DEFINITION The number of breeding pairs of Southern Giant Petrels at Heard Island, the McDonald Islands, and in colonies near Casey, Davis and Mawson stations. TYPE OF INDICATOR There are three types of indicators used in this report: 1. Describes the CONDITION of important elements of a system; 2. Show the extent of the major PRESSURES exerted on a system; 3. Determine RESPONSES to either condition or changes in the condition of a system. This indicator is one of: CONDITION RATIONALE FOR INDICATOR SELECTION The breeding population of Southern Giant Petrels is related to resource availability (nesting space and food), behavioural mechanisms (immigration/emigration and breeding effort/success) in addition to climate change and human impacts (including fisheries and human disturbance). Monitoring breeding populations and interpretation of the data provides information on changes in the Antarctic and Subantarctic ecosystems. DESIGN AND STRATEGY FOR INDICATOR MONITORING PROGRAM Spatial scale: Colonies near Australian Stations - Frazier Islands, Casey (lat 66 degrees 16' 54.5' S, long 110 degrees 31' 39.4' E) Hawker Island, Davis (lat 68 degrees 34' 35.8' S, long 77 degrees 58' 02.6' E) Giganteus Island, Mawson (lat 67 degrees 36' 09.7' S, long 62 degrees 52' 25.7' E) Heard Island - (lat 53 degrees 06' 00.0' S, long 73 degrees 31' 59.9' E) McDonald Islands - (lat 53 degrees 02' 26.2' S, long 72 degrees 36' 00.0' E) Frequency: Breeding Southern Giant Petrels are easily disturbed. Colonies are visited every 3-5 years to minimise disturbance to breeding birds. Measurement technique: All colonies are visited and breeding birds are counted from outside the colonies by two personnel performing replicate counts. All breeding individuals in a colony are counted. No birds are disturbed off their nests. Considerations regarding disturbance associated with census visits are also incorporated into monitoring strategies. The lack of annual census data does not reduce the value of these long-term monitoring programmes. RESEARCH ISSUES All Southern Giant Petrel breeding populations in the AAT and at HIMI decreased following their discovery. Southern Giant Petrels breeding on Indian Ocean islands are highly sensitive to human disturbance. Access to breeding colonies is restricted, as are the types of activities permitted. Disturbance from researchers has been implicated in the observed decreases in these populations (Woehler et al. 2001, Woehler et al. in press). Analyses of the long term AAT data suggest that the breeding populations at Hawker Is and at the Frazier Is have recovered following the restrictions on access and activities permitted on breeding islands. LINKS TO OTHER INDICATORS

Metadata record for data from ASAC Project 2388 See the link below for public details on this project. ---- Public Summary from Project ---- The HIMI Ecosystem Project is aimed at examining key predators based on Heard Island, including albatross, penguins and seals, and their interactions with prey, the ocean and benthic environment and commercial fisheries. Work will include examining the diet of the animals, tracking them to determine where they feed, and examining prey available in the feeding areas. Scientists from a variety of backgrounds including bird and mammal biologists, marine biologists, oceanographers and marine geologists will be involved. These data were collected on Aurora Australis voyage 4 2004 ('HIPPIES'). The data are stored in a Microsoft Access 97 file. The data includes sampling information for trawls using an IYGPT (International Young Gadoid Pelagic Trawl) Net and RMT 8 (8 square meter Rectangular Midwater Trawl) Nets. Sampling data, including location and time, are stored in the 'Hauls' table. Data from the analysis of the contents of each trawl, including species identifications, mass and counts of each taxon of mesopelagic fish and zooplankton are stored in the 'Bycatch' table. Weights, lengths and other biological data collected from individual mesopelagic fish are stored in the 'Fish Data' table. On opening the file the Haul form launches automatically giving access to the data. The fields in this dataset are: Latitude Longitude Species Date Haul Number Time Depth (m) Tow distance Wire out Tow Speed (knots) Headline height (m) Headline width (m) Gear Comments Fishing Ground Fishery Traps Line Hooks Magazines Fish length Otoliths Scale sample Fish Weight Stomach Gonads Stomach contents