The Marine Mammal Programme at the Prince Edward Islands: 38 years of research

Published date: November 2011

Additional Information: Funding Information: Acknowledgements — Research at the PEIA was first funded by the Department of Transport, which also provided the logistics, and later by the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, under the auspices of various research committees. Currently, funding is provided by the South African Department of Science and Technology, administered by the National Research Foundation, while the Department of Environmental Affairs provides the logistics. We are indebted to numerous personnel for their dedicated work on Marion Island when we were not in the field (see http://marion. sanap.org.za/index2.html), and to Azwianewi Makhado for setting the standard for students from the University of Venda that came after him. Richard Laws, Donald Siniff, John Bengtson and Ian Boyd, then members of the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research Group of Specialists on Seals, provided their individual support in the 1990s when the long-term elephant seal mark-resighting progamme at the PEIA was under threat of being discontinued. Clarke Scholtz and Sue Nicolson as heads of department, and Johan du Toit and Elissa Cameron as directors of the MRI, were supportive throughout their tenures. Harry Burton, Joachim Plötz, Brent Stewart, John Arnould and Martin Haupt provided materially and spiritually, and Horst Bornemann, Alejandro Carlini†, Mark Hindell and Mirtha Lewis made meaningful collaboration possible. Graham Kerley, Ian Wilkinson, Greg Hofmeyr, Steve Kirkman, Pierre Pistorius (Marion Island expeditioners, students and friends all rolled into one), and Clive McMahon (Marion cat hunter, Macquarie sealer, student and friend), contributed enormously to the productivity of the MMP, each spending at least two seasons in the field and producing dissertations/theses and papers while at home base. We dedicate this paper to the memory of Alejandro Carlini, valued friend and colleague at IAA, who tragically passed away in the prime of his life in December 2010. Funding Information: Between April 1981 and March 1996, coordination of the overall research effort was facilitated by the appointment of a dedicated Antarctic Research Officer (ARO) within the South African National Antarctic Programme (SANAP). This position was located at the MRI, and although the ARO position was terminated in 1996, the officer (MNB) subsequently procured a permanent, full-time academic position within the Department of Zoology and Entomology at the University of Pretoria (UP) in April 1996. This ensured continuity in research. Seal research collaborations were forged especially with the then Branch: Marine and Coastal Management (now Oceans and Coasts of the Department of Environmental Affairs [DEA]), the University of Cape Town, the University of Venda, Port Elizabeth Museum at Bayworld, the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (Germany), Australian Antarctic Division, Hubbs-Sea World Research Institute (USA), Norwegian Polar Institute, Instituto Antartico Argentino (IAA), the Centro Nacional Patagonico (CENPAT) (Argentina), Deakin University (Australia) and the University of Tasmania (Australia). These collaborations continue to the present. The appointment of a UP graduate associated with the MMP (PJNdB) to a permanent, full-time academic position within the Department of Zoology and Entomology (January 2010), and alliances formed with other former MMP participants now employed at Oceans and Coasts, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU), Port Elizabeth Museum at Bayworld, and University of Venda, promise to be significant in the continuation and expansion of the MRI’s drive towards a strong and scientifically productive involvement in SANAP and other national Antarctic programmes through the study of marine mammals. However, this will be subject to continued procurement of funding from the Department of Science and Technology within SANAP. Copyright: Copyright 2012 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

Keywords: Antarctic fur seal, foraging ecology, killer whale, population dynamics, southern elephant seal, Subantarctic fur seal

Local EPrints ID: 469005

URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/469005

DOI: doi:10.2989/1814232X.2011.637356

ISSN: 1814-232X

PURE UUID: 91e2198b-ea40-40e3-b170-176bf42733d7

ORCID for R. R. Reisinger: orcid.org/0000-0002-8933-6875

Date deposited: 05 Sep 2022 16:38

Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 04:03