Sea kayaking the Wairaurāhiri River

A trip Millie and I had wanted to do for over a year lined up in late July 2024. The snow still hadn’t arrived on the South Island, so we looked to the West, East, and South coasts for good weather to take our sea kayak out for a paddle.

A strong NW wind was passing through on Friday and changing to a southerly on Sunday afternoon, so the South Coast was looking prime. Only 1.3 meters of SW swell remained with light winds. This trip might finally happen! See the route map and weather forecast for our coastal paddling day below. The South coast is notoriously rough and there isn’t much information about what weather forecast will allow for sea kayaking on the coast or more importantly launching at the Wairaurāhiri river mouth.

On Friday after work, we headed to the Rarakau car park to leave a car and then drove back up to Lake Hauroko to camp for the night. Saturday morning, we started paddling in the dark across Lake Hauroko and made it to Teal Bay quickly in calm conditions, leaving our intentions in the river logbook. The sun came out from behind the clouds as we started down the river, and it felt like paradise, stopping in sunny eddies and watching the sunlight filter through the trees overhanging the dark, clear water. There were several picture-perfect spots where, on another trip, we would have loved to stop, set up camp, and fish for the afternoon. Alas, we continued down to Wairaurāhiri Hut. We arrived at 2:30 p.m., so we had time to walk to the beach and scout the river bar and waves for our launch the next morning. The conditions on the coast were looking good, and some jet boaters entered the river bar as we arrived and offered to take us out to look at sets from the water. They had just been up to Big River for the day and expertly timed the waves to take us out the back. This coast is shallow for a long way, and we could see that the visibility was at least 15 meters, looking down at cod and kina on the sea floor. Some of the waves coming through were overhead and made me wish I had a surfboard, while also making me nervous about paddling a double sea kayak out through them. When we returned to the beach, we decided to look for a safer launch than the river mouth and walked east to a small reef point that was exposed at low tide. This looked like the perfect breakwater, and only the sets made it in here after breaking further out. It was good, but we would still have to punch through a couple of waves before getting out the back.

We had cellphone service on the coast, and unfortunately, I checked the Foveaux boating forecast for tomorrow. It had changed from a smiling, happy green fishing boat 7/10 to a red, sad 1/10 boat. However, after reading the swell and wind maps, I saw the conditions were still expected to be similar in the morning but deteriorate after 1 p.m. I was confident we could be off the water by then with an early start. So, as the sun set, we walked back to the hut and prepared for a dawn paddle in the morning. As is typical for coastal sea kayaking trips, my mind spent an hour before falling asleep thinking about the changing forecast and what our options would be to leave the kayak and walk out if the waves grew overnight.

We paddled down to the river mouth with the light of our head torches and listened to the waves breaking for 15 minutes before the sun gave us enough light to see the waves. We discussed the conditions: the waves were slightly bigger than last night, and there was a 10-knot offshore breeze close to shore, but I thought this would die away as conditions swung around to the SW. The waves looked manageable if we took our time paddling over the broken waves and waited for a clear horizon before sprinting out the back. We went for it, and it worked perfectly! Now 300 meters offshore, the sun rose, and conditions were ideal for coastal paddling.

We passed many cray pots along the coast and eventually passed a fishing vessel, who was surprised to see us and offered to pass a few crayfish down to us. The skipper said this was one of the best days of his career on the coast, with crystal-clear water. We stopped in at Port Craig to see some history of the area and found an idyllic landing spot. This would have made another great camping spot. We paddled across the marine mammal sanctuary to Bluecliffs and had two groups of Hector’s dolphins join us for the paddle. Our landing was at high tide, so we had to be quick landing on the steep rocky beach as 1-meter waves dumped onto the rocks. An easier landing in trickier conditions would have been at Rowallan Burn, 2.5 km down the coast.

This was a fantastic paddling trip, comparable to the Hollyford river to Milford trip it takes some commitment to a good weather forecast otherwise you might have to ditch the kayak and walk out. In summer it is possible to pay the local jet boat company to take you and your kayak out if you get stuck at the river mouth but it would pay to check this in advance.

As a final note I wouldn’t recommend taking sea kayaks (especially a double) down the Wairaurāhiri unless you’re very confident in your river reading and self rescue skills. As you’ll read elsewhere it’s mostly continuous grade 2+ whitewater, that for the top few kilometres requires constant focus to keep the boat away from trees, rocks and waves, but if you have skills it’s an amazing paddle amongst the coastal podocarp forest.

Thanks to Roscos Milford Kayaks for lending the kayak, Gearlab Outdoors for letting us test the Deck Pod and Kokatat for the dry gear and PDFs.

Waip-Out 2023

A late summer and full moon lined up perfectly with the annual Waip-Out whitewater festival, which drew over 50 kayakers to paddle and race on the rarely run Waipori river in New Zealand.

Read more about Dunedin’s newest kayaking event here:

Blake Hornblow on Waipori Falls. Photo - Robert Kierans

Packrafting the Dingle

Beautiful trip down the Dingleburn and out on to Lake Hawea. Nice spring flows, the Ahuriri was at 18 cumecs when we started. Under 3 hours of walking to have 30km of stunning whitewater. Enjoy the zink, 360s, slow-mo and scenic campsites.

SEA KAYAKING WITH TAWAKI PENGUIN IN MILFORD SOUND

Pretty darn neat to be onboard with Kokatat as an ambassador for their amazing kayaking gear and following their epic brand ethos!

Kōkatat truly are epic! As well as just sharing the stoke and fun kayaks provide they were excited to share my story of what good we can do with kayaks for conservation down in Fiordland New Zealand. Check the story below: https://kokatat.com/blog/sea-kayaking-with-tawaki

Big thanks to Rosco's Milford Kayaks the Tawaki Project & Millie for making this all happen!

Tawaki project - Doubtful Sound

After an amazing field season in Fiordland the Tawaki team have emerged from the rainforest. Unshaven, muddy and covered in penguin poo we came back with some amazing insights into the success of the mysterious and discreet penguin species known as the Tawaki. This was my first season working with penguins and I learnt so much, but I also have a BIG appreciation for the challenges of working on remote islands with seabirds!

Funding part of my research was a Seltzers Marine Conservation Grant seltzers.co.nz/grants Passionate about marine conservation Greenhill Seltzers have been donating 10% of their profits to protect the ocean and I am stoked that they selected to support Tawaki!

The field camp in Doubtful sound, listening to Kaka and bellbirds in the morning. Photo Gabe Vink

As I am alluding to, Tawaki don't give up their secrets easily and studying them requires extreme patience and dedication. Sitting sometimes for 8 hours watching, waiting and willing our GPS tagged penguin to come home. Tawaki usually land just before dusk so we set up near the nest about 4pm and the waiting game begins. Waiting under ferns, umbrellas, in trees often until midnight our daily routine shifts to that of a penguin. The best thing about this is watching the penguins come and go undisturbed. We get to see all sorts of behaviours, from males fighting over a nest site to the hilarious penguin jumping fails.

Tawaki often preen their feathers for 20 or 30 minutes when they land, but when they have a hungry chick to feed, they dont waste time down on the rocks. 

The majority of our work was deploying and recovering GPS dive loggers that record where the bird went to forage each day. The logger also records data from each dive so we can estimate foraging efficiency and compare home ranges of different Tawaki colonies. We tracked penguins from an inner fjord colony at Seymour island and an outer fiord colony at the Shelter islands. As you can see from the map they have very different foraging strategies. The girl from the Shelter islands travels out to sea, 30km offshore and the other from Seymour swims through the freshwater layer and up the fjord to Bradshaw sound. After many long nights camping out to collect this data it feels so good to finally see where they were going each day.

Tracks of two foraging voyages. From the outer fjord colony birds head out to sea, while from the inner fiord colony penguins stay and forage deep within the fiord walls.

Fiordland has an incredibly complex marine environment. It has a huge terrestrial inputs which is no surprise as it receives an annual 7m of rainfall which creates a freshwater layer that floats on top of the saltwater which can at times be 16m deep! To understand what ocean conditions make for good Tawaki foraging we sampled the water profile in different parts of the fjord.

A Tawaki near Seymour Island takes a breath at the surface.

It was truly a privilege to work up close with Tawaki and thanks to the Seltzers marine conservation grant I was able to do this important work and get a look into the secret life of a Tawaki.

To find out more about Tawaki and the research that is being done check out the tawaki-project.org

A beautiful sunny day in Fiordland. Here I am measuring light attenuation through the freshwater layer in Doubtful sound.

Dreaming of Peru

It's been a few years since this trip. Paddling with two of my best mates, all our belongings in the kayaks, passport in my lifejacket and 6 days in one of the most beatuful palces on earth. I got a bit nostalgic putting this footage together, 21 year old Blake was a lucky guy!
Enjoy some old footage from Peru:

We don’t remember everyday equally. It's the days and moments that etch into our beings that time really slows down.

4 years and many river trips have passed since we paddled the Apurimac, yet it remains so vivid in my mind. A journey not to forget, living by the most simple of natures rules, living the best day ever!

Rakiura by kayak: Thoughts on Deep Wild

A voyage around Rakiura by sea kayak had been a dream, a goal of ours for years now. Aware of global issues we wanted to connect with the natural world, which means so much to all of us. Often more than we realise during everyday life. “PROTECT WHAT YOU LOVE” expresses our purpose and vision with the mission to raise awareness and funds for Forest and Bird whose values for nature align with ours. 

Donations can be made here:

This expedition compares to climbing one of the three greatest peaks of Aotearoa, but in the wild ocean environment, in small seafaring vessels, paddling around our third largest island. It's a commiting undertaking where you may be at mercy of wild weather systems and rough seas. 

In 13 days, 3 hours we stepped out of our kayaks, back on the sandy beach of Oban, where we started the expedition 2 weeks earlier. It's impossible in words (but i’ll try) to make you feel the freedom, so alive and connected to nature, the fear, relief and stoke of rough passages, how small a human feels in the remote, wild and pristine natural areas of our world.

Stewart Island, Rakiura (the land of glowing skies) was visited by early Polynesian and Maori where they fished and hunted Titi, mutton birds. The early 1800s brought early European sealers and whalers who some settled, creating various small settlements around timber, boat building, farming and fishing. In 2002, Rakiura National Park was created, 157000 hectares about 85% of the island, protected and a sanctuary for the native forest and birds to regenerate and flourish. We camped among mature Rimu, Miro, Kamahi and Southern-Rata with Kiwi, Kaka and Kakariki. Paddled with little Blue Penguins, the Royal and Salvins Albatross, Fairy Prion, Giant Petrel, Skua, thousands of Turns, Shearwaters, Cormorants and Gulls. Counting a total of 35 species of native birds. We observed the behaviour of Sea Lions, 7 Gill sharks and Fur Seals. Tasted sea salt, seaweed, kelp, shellfish, crayfish and various finfish. Warmed and cooked with fires aware of minimising our human impact, leaving no trace of our visit.

We began in Oban traveling anti-clockwise along the coastline sometimes close in bays where we could hear bird song, sometimes over 5 kilometres offshore where 5-6 metre swell would surge up and down beneath us, often losing sight of each other in the multi-story house size waves. Coastlines are made up of golden granite beaches, sometimes massive crashing surf or long stretches of weathered cliffs battered and bashed by storms formed in the southern ocean. We'd often see a splash 12 metres high with sea spray into the treetops. The ocean felt alive around the Rakiura, powerful currents formed by Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea, where incoming and outgoing tides would flow up to 5 knots, at times with us, and other times against. Sometimes at tidal bottlenecks like the South Cape, it would stand waves up to 6 metres high. This is where we felt especially small, exposed to the great southern ocean to our right, kilometres of battered cliffs to our left and confused chop from the rebounding waves. All we could do was keep on paddling on. 

Even though we experienced challenging days, which some may say are type 2 fun, sitting in the seat of your kayak for 10 hours, paddling 60 kilometres, getting motion sick, sore and tired, wet and sweaty all were physical and physiological challenges we faced day in, day out. Our comfort zones grew time and time again to a stage where getting up in the dark, putting those damp paddling clothes on and heading out to sea. Using strenuous amounts of energy paddling against headwinds, getting whipped in the face with sea spray became normal, part of our life and I now look back upon it fondly. It gave us insight of what we are capable of and how far we can push the limits, how much you can learn and grow from living at one with our natural world.

“ It’s not enough to simply appreciate our natural world; we must also protect it, preserve it, regenerate it, care for it.”

However, as well as telling our story, sharing our feelings and photos we want to share how we felt about the responsibility of an adventure to our wild places. It's not enough to simply appreciate our natural world; we must also protect it, preserve it, regenerate it, care for it. All of us, eyes wide in awe. This is our responsibility as kaitiaki of one of the most amazing places on earth. We all rely on the natural world to learn about where we came from and how far we can go, testing our limits, gathering food, finding freedom and what road to travel down next. 

Rakiura’s coastlines are some of New Zealand's most remote places however they are not immune to the effects of unsustainable human impacts. Everyday it was hard to see some form of anthropogenic impact on the land and sea taking away from that wilderness we value so much.

We watch fishermen chop the heads and fins off sharks for New Zealand’s fish and chip culture, caught in the unstable practice of gill netting. We found rubbish, mostly plastic waste, a lot of commercial fishing gear just washed up on remote pristine beaches. Our oceans and marine life NEED ATTENTION. Our approach to this expedition was to witness and be part of nature, to observe human impacts in one of New Zealand’s most remote pristine areas. It’s great to see so much of Rakiura protected, and so much effort going into protecting individual species like Sea Lions and Hoiho however their entire habitat is at risk with only 0.05% of New Zealand marine area protected in Marine Reserves, sanctuaries to another whole ecosystem that provides life on earth for us and everything else that we share earth with. In 2016, the World Conservation Congress, held in Hawaii, overwhelmingly passed a motion urging governments to set aside 30% of marine environments as protected areas by 2030. New Zealand abstained from voting in this. A bold movement is needed and that is why we want to direct our efforts and funds with Forest and Bird towards a marine environment we can be proud of.

Thank you a thousand times to those of you who have supported us along the way, supporting Forest and Bird, aiding their mission in “defending New Zealand wildlife and wild places, on land and in our oceans”. We are dedicating donations to creating and protecting Marine Reserves and the Zero Bycatch petition. Follow Forest and Birds plan to deliver Zero Bycatch here. Protect what you love!

Thanks for your support, we have our Waka on the water for change

Written by Gabe & Blake

---

Links

https://givealittle.co.nz/fundraiser/give-back-to-our-environment-1 

https://www.forestandbird.org.nz/what-we-do/oceans

Resolution Island trapping January 2021

Volunteering for conservation in southwest Fiordland’s Dusky Sound.

Volunteering can take you to the most amazing places and give you opportunities and  experiences you can’t get from work, or as tourists or even from a personal adventure. This  summer I was lucky enough to volunteer with DOC Te Anau’s biodiversity team on one of  New Zealand’s most extensive and significant conservation projects. The pest and predator  control of Resolution Island and greater Dusky Sound.  

Tamatea / Dusky Sound has a massive archipelago of ruggedly beautiful islands that is  brought to life by west coast rainforest that covers every possible habitable space. These  islands are home to amazing bird life including recovering populations of kākāpō, kiwi,  mohua & Teke/saddlebacks. The dominant feature in Dusky sound is Resolution Island, not only is it huge in landmass its rugged mountains reach up to nearly 1000m (quite a sight to a volunteer who has to walk up and down each day). ‘Reso’ (as it is known) conservation is all  about the stoats. I was surprised to learn that quite incredibly the stoats regularly swim the  550 plus meters across Acheron Passage from the mainland to Reso. Making it an incredibly  tough conservation project, so high intensity and continuous trapping is needed to keep  stoat levels under control. Thus allowing as many na've species to thrive as possible. Deer  and mice are also present on the island but are not direct threats to birds so aren’t targeted.  The Island is completely rat free.  

Trapping teams spend a week on Reso walking and trapping the entire island 4 times a year. I  was one of the teams for the summer monitoring trip in January staying on DOCs vessel the  Southern Winds. Each morning we set off with a map, boxes of eggs, meat and all the other  trapping and safety kit for a day in the hills checking about 60 traps. The island is doaed with  huts as some traplines require overnight trips walking from one side of the island to the  other. I got to do a solo overnighter and spend the night at Mt Wales bivi, up at just over  600m elevation aber walking in from Duck Cove. We picked the best weather for the  overnighter so I started with the sun on my face as I lifted a heavier pack than usual and  made my way slowly up the valley stopping every 100m to check the DOC 200 traps, and  GoodNature A24’s. However I was also geeng interrupted by Kaka and flocks of mohua and  brown creepers who love the sound of their own voice! I had to constantly get my camera out.  

 I can see why these birds love the forest so much; enormous rata towers over the tannin  stained rivers and I found it difficult to pick the best spot for a swim and some lunch. Aber a  long day without catching any stoats I made it up to the hut just before sunset and enjoyed  an evening in solitude appreciating the beauty of wild Fiordland. The next morning was up  to Mt Wales summit in blustery condi'ons and then a long muddy descent to the Northern  side of the island to wait with the sand flies for a pick up. Luckily on this trip I didn’t catch  any stoats as all captures have to be bagged and carried out and then sent to a lab so that  they can be genetically tested to see if it is a new arrival to the island or offspring of a  previous aquanaut. This is a really good tool that helps the team gauge their trapping success  but also makes for some very smelly backpacks when we catch something… We caught about 20 stoats on this trip which was about average for a quarterly check but still disappointing to see so many had made it to the island.  

This week was an incredible experience to see the outcome of over a decade of intensive conservation work on Resolution Island. Walking among mohua was an inspiring feeling as I  knew I was now part of the future success of the Islands endemic fauna. To learn more  about the project and Dusky Sound I would recommend the new book Tamatea Dusky by  Peta Carey.  

Leopard seal encounters

There is much to learn if you are curious

Leopard seals are one of the most curious and obviously intelligent animals I have ever encountered. Being lucky enough to kayak in their environment I have had some unique encounters that I think are worth sharing. 

Encounters with Leopard seals from a kayak bring a lot of emotions, fear being the first. But after several close encounters the wide eyed fear you initially have turns to an expression of awe. As a guide I look at expressions of my fellow kayakers; mouths open, no one able to take their eyes off the inquisitive and intimidating expression of the seal assessing what sort of ice we rest upon.

 My first really close encounter with a leopard seal was with a group of rafted kayakers. All six kayaks grouped together as we looked for a good spot to land on a nearby island, all of sudden a leopard seal rose out of the water to eye level with us. It took about 30 seconds to look each of us in the eye before disappearing back in to the water. Incredible! (video of this encounter is shown further down in the story). Since then I’ve been lucky enough to spend more time kayaking around the antarctic peninsular and have had other close encounters with the cheeky and scheming leopard seals that call it home.

Having such incredible experiences with these animals caused a curiosity in me to understand the life of a Leopard seal. 

There is much to learn if your are curious.

The gender of a seal can easily be known from a photo of the underside of a seal like this. Both sexes have a scar from the umbilical attachment (belly-button), behind this females have two mammary glands shown vertically like this : , while males have just one opening part way to the hind flippers.

What sex is this seal?

Who is she and what is she doing in Antarctica?  

Named after their spotted fur and sharp canines, Leopard seals (Hydrurga leptonyx) are often named alongside killer whales as Antarctica’s top predator. Hydrurga leptonyx loosely translates to the small clawed, water worker. They have huge and powerful for-flippers and are extremely agile and hydrodynamic in the water. What gives them away when looking from a distance is their large reptilian head and neck. While they are a top predator if you looked at an antarctic food web they have connections to almost every level. This cosmopolitan diet is one of the most intriguing aspects of their ecology. They are sexually dimorphic with females being larger than males reaching almost 500kg at 3.8m in length.

The leopard seal yawn - a moment every photographer has their camera poised for.

What can her teeth tell us?

The best way to tell what something eats is to have a look at their teeth! With Leopard seals their varied diet is reflected in their unusual tooth structure. The large 2.5cm canines are easy to see, and are used to deal with bigger prey like other seals, penguins and fish. However in the back of their mouth are a set of serrated teeth used to strain krill from the water.

Tools of the trade: Leopard seals use their strong front teeth to kill penguins, while the trident-shaped cheek teeth act as a sieve for trapping tiny krill. Source

The first time this was observed was in Australia with captive leopard seals. The scientists witnessed the sucking and sieving of prey similar to how many whales feed. This study came about when researchers were looking at the evolution of baleen in ancient whales like Llanocetus and saw the comparison to the present day Leopard seals teeth (more on this study can be seen here). This was a fundamental study showing how leopard seals can occupy a place at the top or bottom of the Antarctic food web depending on prey abundance. It is thought that Leopard seals consume more Antarctic krill during the winter when other prey are less densely located around breeding sites. However research from one juvenile shows they have an aerobic dive limit of seven minutes which means that in the winter months juvenile Leopard seals probably don’t eat krill, since krill is found deeper during this time.

Video from an underwater ROV near Cuverville island, Antarctica.

Bonus points if you can spot the salps!

The most beautiful swimmers on earth

As I hope you can see from this footage they swim effortlessly with powerful yet graceful movements. What you cannot see in this video is the speed of the leopard seal, propelled by all four limbs these animals can truly fly underwater. I’ve had a Leopard seal porpoising behind my zodiac at over 15 knots. Most true seals only use their forelimbs as rudders so it is unique that leopard seals have the huge pectoral flippers used for propulsion.

They are incredibly streamlined, you can see the nostrils and lips tightly shut as they approach the camera their entire torso is in a teardrop shape. Their muzzles are dotted with whiskers to feel any movements in the water. The most similar thing to our fingertips.

Photos taken from a kayak… and then what happened?

Behaviour and nature towards humans

These curious animals have a long history of interacting with humans and no doubt when in their environment they need to be treated with the respect of the apex predator. There has been a few negative interactions with humans, firstly back in the heroic age of antarctic exploration. Sir Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1917 had a seal chase one of their expedition members across the ice, only to be stopped when shot by experienced polar explorer Frank Wild. However there is an overwhelming amount of documented cases of positive encounters with these animals. Most well known are the encounters Paul Nicklen has shared with National geographic. These encounters help to show the curiosity and inquisitive nature of these seals which is important as we still know very little about antarctic seals. Human / Leopard seal interactions are likely to increase as antarctic tourism grows and seals explore territories further north. They have recently become a resident species in New Zealand! So it is important that peoples perspective is not one of fear of the unknown but more of a curious and playful underwater superior who might just be able to teach us something if we watch and listen.

My personal experiences with leopards have been incredible, and mostly from a kayak which I enjoy as it feels like a more intimate way to connect with the environment. While kayak guiding it is known that you shouldn’t seek out encounters with these animals because of the potential risks but of course when you are exploring someones backyard you are bound to run into them at some point.

Encounters from a kayak

The video below is from the encounter I eluded to at the start, and quite possibly my favourite encounter to date.
It was a typical late summer day in Antarctica, large snow flakes falling around us as we paddle between ice floes, looking down into the clear shallow water observing chains of salps floating by. No one was in a hurry to leave the peaceful bay we were in and paddle to the nearby island to land so we rafted together to have a yarn. As I joined the other kayaks I looked behind me to see the shape of a Leopard seal disappear underwater! I was feeling a mix of emotions, my first encounter with a leopard seal while kayaking, should I be nervous? a little… I was however super excited to see this animal up close! While telling the group who was approaching she circled around our kayaks and I quickly clipped a Gopro to the end of my paddle and this is what I got.

An incredible encounter watching this animal for about ten minutes before she swam off to investigate a zodiac which approached us (this did end in the zodiac with a punctured tube when she tested the material with her teeth). What an incredible day and I was left wanting more!

The hunt…

Other incredibly memorable encounters have occurred while watching Leopard seals feed on juvenile Adelie penguins. The seal patrols the water around the ice edge, eyes just rising above the waters surface just how you would imagine a crocodile doing. The seal waits for birds to take the plunge, sometimes inpatient the seal launches out of the water almost coming face to face with a penguin this usually causes enough of a commotion to knock a few unlucky birds into the water. From what I’ve seen they kill the bird by grabbing the feet or neck and slapping the backwards and forth onto the waters surface (a violent kill I know! however the next part is even crazier). This powerful action often turns the penguins skin inside out, essentially skinning the penguin so the seal can just eat the meat without feathers in the way. During one such encounter it seemed like the seal was just doing this just for fun or practice. I could count six inside out penguins floating around the sea as he eyed up his next victim. This could have been a form of prey stashing but a curious behaviour nonetheless

Antarctica and climate change are almost synonymous, most of the effects we talk about are negative for wildlife, as most animals are specially adapted to one prey or habitat. In a constantly changing world there is a lot to be said for a species that is quick to adapt and curious about the world around them. As we talked about these encounters afterwards, we discussed how the leopard seal might well be adaptable enough to fit into a changing antarctic environment.

Conservation & Science

Leopard seals are currently listed as lower risk, least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The main conservation issue facing leopard seals and much of the Antarctic food web is is the reduction in krill stocks, which is expected with climate change and the possibility of krill fisheries fishing in habitat these animals use. There are a few citizen science projects helping to understand leopard seals through mark recapture research, based on photographs of unique spots around the head. There is the Sea Leopard Project for antarctic sightings and Leopardseals.org for sightings in New Zealand.

 

Cuverville Island. a likely spot to find Leopard seals in the late summer as Gentoo penguin chicks take their first swim.

There is much I haven’t covered about leopard seals in this blog… comment and message me if you want to know more or have any questions!

Thanks for being curious.

Lower Stikine & Inside Passage - Smithers update

Well the basement of Tims mums house is now empty, just a few hours ago cameras, drysuits, dry bags, pancake mix, protein bars, hammocks… (the list goes on) were allover the floor. Now everything fits snuggly into the kayaks with just enough room for Tim and an I to slide in.

Tim looking hard for the Stikine hot springs

Neither Tim or I have planned a 7 week kayaking trip before and I don’t think too many people have (except locals here in Smithers) so its pretty hard to decide whats too much, and whats too little. The last couple or days has been a rollercoaster, thinking we have wayyyy to much stuff, and then thinking “thats it?, 7 weeks is a long time” I still cant decide but I know for sure we will figure it out soon enough!

Tomorrow we will drive up to Telegraph creek to our put in on the Stikine river, its a bumpy 11 hour drive but I cant wait to the the imfamous Stikine river. For years now I have heard of its immense power and beauty, and even though i’m not putting on for the Grand Canyon this time nerves are still high.

At Telegraph creek we will get to see the devastation first hand of the Wild Fire last August I have seen photos on https://telegraphcreekrebuildingfund.com but I its going to be crazy to see first hand. We will share photos when we can

More updates from the kayaks soon!

Blake

Practice paddle below Hudson bay mountain

A Bird's eye view

Areal photogrammetry for an index of whale condition 

Drones are now being flown above the waters of Southeast Alaska and not for Amazon or pizza delivery (to use Andy’s favorite joke). More incredibly, these drones are being used to measure the size and health of individual whales in the wild. This is important because scientists from Southeast Alaska have noticed a few troubling observations in the last few years which they hope to shed some light on. Firstly, recent observations suggest there are fewer cow and calf pairs returning in summer. Secondly, less whales are migrating away from summer feeding grounds in winter, essentially staying in Southeast Alaska all year. This leads to questions surrounding the health of the population and if the whales are getting enough food to migrate and breed. In launching the drones, we will begin to find the answers to these questions.

Droning a playful humpback. Pectoral flippers can be 5m long so can make quite a bang on the water. Image under permit 19703 

This project is in its first year of in collaboration with the University of Hawaii to study the heath of the Humpback whale population here in Southeast Alaska. Why Hawaii you may ask? Well as it turns out 95% of the whales here belong to the breeding grounds in the Hawaiian Islands and so working together will hopefully give a picture of the body condition of a whale throughout the entire year. To understand why the condition of a whale will change over the year, I will briefly describe how whales are divided by breeding strategy.

The whales of the infraorder Cetacea are split into two categorys Mysticeti (baleen whales, large filter feeders like humpbacks) and Odontoceti (toothed, echolocating whales like sperm whales). Typically, this division also splits Cetacea into two different breeding regimes. Capital breeders (most baleen whales) and income breeders (toothed whales). Capital breeders store energy for reproduction, migration and survival, while income breeders use acquired energy on a continuous basis including during reproduction.

Diving together multiple whales can be measured at once. Image under permit 19703

Humpback whales are capital breeders, they spend half the year feeding, layering on the fat and muscle so they are big enough to make the trip to the breeding ground and back. Once they leave the summer feeding grounds, they will not eat until they return next summer. Humpback whales undertake one of the longest migrations in the animal kingdom. These whales typically travel more than 5000 km from their summer feeding grounds to their winter breeding grounds. Imagine how much gas needs to be in the tank for a trip that long and strenuous, and even more if you have to support a calf.  

Cows who give birth will lose up to 30% of body mass during the migration. Using aerial photogrammetry, it has been shown that female humpback whales can lose lose up to 3cm every other day to the milk required to feed a growing calf. This extreme energetic cost could be the reason why some animals are not leaving the feeding grounds. As they know if they get pregnant they don’t have the size to be able to support a calf. Scientists can now measure the same cows throughout the feeding season, tracking their body condition until late season when most whales begin their migration to the breeding grounds. It may then be possible to detect potential differences in body condition between cows that are leaving to breed and those that are choosing to stay in the feeding grounds all year round. As you can now see this photogrammetry is pretty powerful stuff, so the best team and gear has been brought in to measure the whales of Southeast Alaska.  

Size matters! To survive the breeding season animals have to have enough fat stores for up to 5 months of fasting. Image under permit 19703

Martin van Aswegen is the certified drone pilot in charge of capturing this data as well some epic footage of bubble nets and breaching whales, no pressure! Martin is flying the new DJI inspire 2 drone, some impressive specs include; a top speed of almost 100km/h! A laser altimeter reporting its altitude 20 times per second and it’s equipped with 21 mega pixel camera capable of shooting super high resolution 4K. The Drone has a 20min flight time and flying from a boat as we typically do, comes with some challenges. Wind and waves can make landing the drone on the boat challenging (as we saw when Andy’s drone went for a swim…). So it’s now required that someone has to launch and catch the drone from the back of the boat.  Said person has to wear a helmet, goggles and gloves as the props spin at roughly 10,000 RPM and can do some serious damage to anything that it comes in contact with!

The DJI inspire 2

Aerial photogrammetry has revolutionized non-invasive measurements of whales, and has only been happening for about ten years. Previously, it was only possible to get these measurements from dead whales or from whaling data which was not particularly accurate. So drones have really changed the game. To get these measurements, the drone must be directly above whale so images can be linked with the known range finder altitude. As we also know the focal length of the camera, it gives a measure of pixels which can be converted into absolute length of the whale.

A perfect day gives beautiful measurement photos. Image under permit 19703 

Measurements are taken from the rostrum (front tip of the whale) to the tail fork, giving an estimate of total body length. Measurements of the width are taken at 5% increments, totalling 20 measurements along the body. These lengths then can be modelled into volume and an index of health.

The summer field season is almost over here in Baranof Warm Springs and we have approximately 100 individual whale images. The aim of this project now is to return to measure whales again in the fall and winter to look at the condition of the whales who do not migrate. This exciting research has just begun but has already give us some novel insights into the life of a Southeast Alaskan Humpback.

Cheechakoes

Written during my first week at the Alaska Whale Foundation, June 2018

More water, a tent for sleeping on the roof of the boat, sunnies, directional hydrophones, and an outdoor toilet. Andy, Dana, Robert, Rocio and myself have just returned from an epic five days of eating a lot of PB&J sandwiches during our circumnavigation of Admiralty Island here in South East Alaska and this is our list of what to improve on for the next time.

The adventure began in the engine room for the Alaskan Whale Foundation the Centre for Coastal Conservation. We looked at the giant maps and plotted a survey that would take us past various fjords into North Chatham strait then briefly into Icy Strait, up to Lynn Canal then down Stephens Passage into Fredrick Sound then rounding Pt. Gardner we would soon be back in the familiar waters of Warm Springs bay.

Warms springs bay has an epic waterfall cascading into the bay 

A survey of this scale had never been done before and this would take us deep into Southeast Alaska. We would travel over 250 miles, we would have to avoid ice bergs, bears, and thousands of fishermen and their gill nets working the same waters as us. Many people said it couldn’t be done.

So some background; The waters of Southeast Alaska hold some of the most incredible whales in the world and we want to understand their behavior. These whales cooperatively feed in a method you may have heard of called bubble netting. It is understood that groups (between 2 and 20) of unrelated whales communally produce and use bubble nets and vocalizations to trap fish as easy prey. Our aim would be to survey Southeast Alaska’s waters to begin to get a better estimate of how many whales do this and hopefully find out which whales are producing the vocalizations.

A large male Killer Whale with the snowy Baranof island in the background - image captured under permit 19703

Bubble netting lunge - image captured under permit 19703

After a week at the field station testing gear, and driving boats we have 126 survey points plotted in our GPS, both boats fueled up and an excellent weather forecast. This is happening! AWF has two vessels Paula T, and Barbara Bell which will travel in parallel so we can survey each coastline as we make our way around Admiralty Island. Day 1 gave us an exciting start as both vessels found bubble netting groups early on and then we finished the day watching a very active group feeding. Then as the group parted late in the evening we got to see their disassociation displays which included whales breaching and generally have a good time splashing on the surface. Finally, as we set up the extravagant sleeping arrangements and crack an Alaskan Icy Bay (The best IPA around) two young bears wandered across a beach thirty meters from us. On a day like this you never forget you’re in Alaska.

We've had some amazing encounters with the Baranof Brown beers

The next two days flew by without many whale sighting but still lots of sea otters, seals, abundant bird life and amazing views of glaciers seeming to come down though the clouds down to the ocean. These two survey days also coincided with two major salmon openings so we found ourselves amongst up to forty or fifty gill nets while listening and looking for whales. This really tested our newly acquired zodiac driving skills. The third day we finishedat Tracy arm, this is one of South East Alaska most impressive inlets a deeply carved fjord filled with bergs from the receding Sawyer Glacier almost four kilometers from the moraine. The long days gave us the opportunity to take Barbara Bell to the carving face and incredible view and we all felt very lucky to be able to see the glacier from the water. The last 500m was filled with ice and the GPS said we should’ve been traveling on land a crazy thought that the rocks around us had only just been uncovered. 

Ice falling from the Sawyer Glacier 

We spent all of day four traveling South and we could hear a group of bubble netters feeding, the pulsing screams of the whales never seemed to get louder so we couldn’t figure out their location. Eventually we spotted the group traveling so they were no longer making noise but as they found some fish they began to feed. This was a group of four whales with multiple vocalizing whales, the sounds are incredibly loud and can easily be heard without a hydrophone. Most groups appear to just have one vocalizer so this group was quite unique and unlike anything else we had heard.

On the last night we camped at the Brothers islands and enjoyed an amazing sunrise to begin the another beautiful day on the water. We found two more groups of bubble netters making six groups in total found on survey as well as Cow and Calf traveling as we made our way back into Warm Springs Bay. We couldn’t wait to get back to the hot springs after and an especially successful five-day circumnavigation of Admiralty Island.