Southern Right Whales + Update on gulf invaders

Presented by the NZ Antarctic Society and the OBC

We welcome you to attend an upcoming talk at the Outboard Boating Club, Tamaki Drive, Auckland.

Southern Ocean Sentinels: What the recovery of southern right whales tells us about the world’s changing seas

Southern right whales or tohorā were one of the first species to be hunted as whaling led to the successive collapse of populations of the great whales. In the Southern Ocean alone, over 2 million whales were killed, leading to vast changes in the ecosystem. Part of the first whale research team at the British Antarctic Survey base on South Georgia in 100 years, Dr Carroll has led work to understand the patterns of recovery in southern right whale populations. This work has helped reveal how southern right whales are not just the Antarctic krill feeders that early whalers suspected. Instead, we find that they use ecosystems across the Southern Ocean. This new information on their ecology combined with long-term monitoring of their population recovery shows that by understanding their recovery, we gain insight into the health of Southern Ocean and Antarctic ecosystems.

The speaker, Dr. Emma Carroll, is a molecular ecologist, who worked for several years in the UK before returning to New Zealand to take up a Royal Society of New Zealand Rutherford Discovery Fellow at the University of Auckland. Carroll is co-lead on the International Whaling Commission – Southern Ocean Research Partnership on southern right whales and an invited participant at the International Whaling Commission Scientific Committee. She will provide an insight into the populations of whales and dolphins in our waters.

Caulerpa, other marine invaders and drop cams

OBC member Steve Harris, will provide an update about Caulerpa and other marine invaders in the Hauraki Gulf. He'll also share about drop cams, an inexpensive way for anyone to explore the underwater world.

EVENT DETAILS:

• The bar will be open for purchases from 6.15pm

• Speakers start at 7pm

• Free to attend, please register to assist our organisers

• All welcome, members and non-members

• Ample free parking on-site