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leopard seals
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2017
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Laurence M. Gould
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Project Title: |
Collaborative Research: Foraging Ecology and Physiology of the Leopard
Seal |
Project Status: |
Submitted |
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Principal Investigator: |
Daniel P. Costa, UCSC |
Project Institution: |
UCSC |
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Project ID: |
105323 |
Version #: |
1 |
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Date Submitted: |
5/13/2016 8:30:00 PM |
Created By: |
Luis Huckstadt |
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Date Last Modified: |
7/26/2017 1:25:00 PM |
URI Serial #: |
None |
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Funding Agencies: |
NSF/OPP/ANT - 1644256 - Funded |
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Summary of Field Work: |
Leopard seals (15 per year) will be darted either from an inflatable boat or from the ice using a Tele-inject air gun darting system (Higgins et al. 2002). Telazol will be dosed based on the estimated mass of the animal and injected intramuscularly. Once secured by net, additional anesthesia will be administered by isoflurane gas (via cone or intubation). This will allow physiological and foraging samples to be collected (e.g.,
blood, blubber, muscle, vibrissae, fecal) and instruments attached to the head of the seal using quicksetting marine epoxy (Field et al. 2012). While sedated, animals will be flipper tagged, sexed, measured (length, girth, height, and width), and body condition estimated using morphometrics (Shero et al. 2014).
While there is spatial and temporal variability in leopard seal abundance within the Antarctic Peninsula region, we will either work from a ship or from Cape Shirreff. Since 1996, Cape Shirreff has an increasing leopard seal population (Goebel et al. 2011, Krause et al. 2015). Numbers of adult leopard seals peak in January and February, and animals are found in higher densities at Cape Shirreff than anywhere else in Antarctica (Krause et al. 2015). Previous studies demonstrate that a total of 87 leopard seals have been identified at Cape Shirreff with a maximum of 30 individuals sighted at one time (Schwarz et al. 2013). We are in discussions with personnel from the US AMLR program about working at Cape Shirreff. If we are not able to be shore based at Cape Shirreff, we will work from a ship, including Cape Shirreff as one of our potential capture locations.
Whenever possible, we will recover instruments from previously tagged individuals the following season and collect tissue samples for physiological and foraging data. |
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Summary of Facility Requirements: |
Since there is spatial and temporal variability in leopard seal abundance within the Antarctic Peninsula region, our field plan is to be flexible and work within the logistics available. Depending on the constraints of the field effort we may alternate members of our field team as necessary given that there may be space limitations at Cape Shirreff or on the ship. If we are ship based we will look for leopard seals over a wide region of the Antarctic Peninsula, starting at the Livingston Island and extending south to Marguerite Bay. Ideally, we would like 1 month of ship time between February and June of each
year. However, we could operate from late summer to early spring. The limiting factor is to allow sufficient time for the tags to be deployed and collect data before they fall off during the annual molt which occurs between January and late February. One possibility would be to board the RV Palmer at McMurdo Station and deploy tags as it transits from McMurdo to Punta Arenas or vice versa. We have shared ship time during the Southern Ocean GLOBEC program and got quite proficient at deploying tags at night and coordinating with other field projects operating from the same vessel. We also shared ship time on the R/V Gould with another research team operating out of Palmer Station in 2007. |
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Summary of other requirements and comments: |
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Type of Request: |
Ancillary |
Request Status: |
Submitted |
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Request ID: |
1008553 |
Created By: |
Luis Huckstadt |
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Date Last Modified: |
5/13/2016 8:30:00 PM |
Date Submitted: |
5/13/2016 8:30:00 PM |
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Year: |
2017
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Ship/Facility: |
Laurence M. Gould
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Optimum Start Date:
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1/3/2017 |
Dates to Avoid: |
We would like to avoid working between October and December, as animals are in their breeding season. |
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Earliest Start Date: |
1/2/2017 |
Multi-Ship Op: |
No |
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Latest Start Date: |
4/1/2017 |
Other Ship(s): |
Depending on the availability of ship/station time, we might be able to work at the AMLR camp at Cape Shirreff, and would only need transport to Livingston Island. We are flexible to the ships' operation calendar, and could work off the RV Gould or RV Palmer |
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Operating Days Needed: |
Science Days |
Mob Days |
De-Mob Days |
Estimated Transit Days |
Total Days |
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20 |
3 |
3 |
10 |
36 |
Repeating Cruise?
(within same year) |
Yes |
Interval: |
1 year |
# of Cruises: |
3 |
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Description of Repeating cruise requirements: |
Same as for the original deployment |
Justification/Explanation for ship choice, dates,
conflicts, number of days & multi-ship operations: |
Same as for the original deployment |
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Short Description of Op Area
for use in schedules: |
Cape Shirreff |
| Description of Op Area: |
We propose to work with the resident population of leopard seals at Cape Shirreff, Livingston Island, areas surrounding Palmer Station and sea ice |
| Op Area Size/Dia.: |
100 |
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Lat/Long |
Marsden Grid |
Navy Op Area |
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Beginning
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61.991° S
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56.988° W
map
61° 59.46' S
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56° 59.28' W
map
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Ending
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67.076° S
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67.761° W
map
67° 4.56' S
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67° 45.66' W
map
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Show Degrees Minutes |
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Foreign Clearance Required? |
No |
Coastal States:
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 Important Info on Foreign Research Clearances
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Are you or any member in your science party bringing in any science equipment items which are regulated for export by the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and/or the Export Administration Regulations (EAR)?
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No |
If yes, have you applied for the necessary permits through your export control office?
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No |
| Questions about ITAR/EAR regulations?
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Comments about foreign clearance requirements or
description of any other special permitting requirements
(e.g., MMPA, ESA, IHA, Marine Sanctuaries, etc.) |
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Requested Start Port |
Intermediate Port(s) |
Requested End Port |
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Rada Punta Arenas, Chile |
Palmer Station, Antarctica |
Rada Punta Arenas, Chile |
Explanation/justification for requested
ports and dates of intermediate stops
or to list additional port stops |
Depending on the final field site or ship, we might request to work at Palmer Station |
Important Info on Working in Foreign Ports
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Chief Scientist: |
Daniel P. Costa, UCSC |
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# in Science Party |
5 |
# of different science teams |
1 |
# Marine Technicians to be
provided by ship operator:
(include in science party total)
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2 |
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Explanation of Science Party Requirements and Technician Requirements |
A crew of 5 scientists is necessary to conduct our field activities in a safe manner. If we work from a ship, we will require the operation of a zodiac to approach the seals, and as such we request 2 marine technicians |
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 Dynamic Positioning | ADCP | Multibeam | Seismic |
| Dredging/Coring/Large Dia. Trawl Wire | Stern A-frame | Fiber Optic (.681) | 0.680 Coax Wire |
| SCUBA Diving | Radioisotope use - briefly describe | NO Radioisotope use/Natural level work | Other Operator Provided Inst. - Describe |
| 0 PI-Provided Vans - briefly describe | MOCNESS | | |
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Explain Instrumentation or Capability
requirements that could affect choice
of ship in scheduling. |
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Explain Major Ancillary Facilities
Requirements and list description
and provider for "other" systems. |
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