Volunteering opportunity for experienced sea birders

see www.birdlife.org.au/locations/australasian-seabird-group/research-asg

Seabird at-sea Surveys on the CSIROs RV Investigator

“Project Outline:
The project will collect data to quantify the variability in the distribution and abundance of seabirds in the oceans around Australia over a broad range of temporal and spatial scales. The project will examine the relationships between physical oceanographic features, such as oceanographic fronts, continental shelf breaks and the marginal ice zones and their use as seabird feeding areas. Marine mammals also use many of these oceanographic features. The study also seeks to identify species assemblages, or associations, in the species of seabirds observed that are persistent over time.

The project will collect new data for seabirds around Australia, for which there are very few (and in many cases, nil) quantitative data. The project will use standard survey methods to ensure compatibility with existing data sets for the same species in other areas (eg Southern Ocean).

The expected outcomes will be the publication of the data syntheses and analyses. Publication of comparative surveys will be undertaken when sufficient Research Voyages or Transit Voyages overlay previous efforts, either published or unpublished. The significance of such work will be realized by the accumulation of such publications allowing for a better understanding of the distribution and abundance of seabirds within our near-by oceans.

The data will be shared with marine mammal researchers to facilitate greater understanding of the role of oceanographic processes in the distribution of marine mammals at sea. The project will also provide a context to current efforts to track seabirds and marine mammals, which are typically constrained to a relatively low number of instrumented individuals.

The Australasian Seabird Group (ASG) is looking for interested, skilled volunteer observers to take part in voyages of various lengths (transit: 4 days to expedition: 50 days). This is a scientific project, not a bird watching or twitching tour, and all participants will need to be mindful they will be working among professional scientists and technicians and that they will be representing BirdLife Australia/Birds New Zealand on board Investigator.

Applicants will need to be able to cover the costs of their airfares to and from the ports where the vessel will depart and arrive at, within Australia. They will need to be prepared to undertake a full medical examination (only available in capital cities and some regional centres in Australia) as befits remote area working (medical costs are paid by CSIRO). Applicants will need to provide evidence of their competence in seabird identification, two referees and a CV that demonstrates some level of scientific survey participation/data analyses and any publication that was a result of research/observational work. Applicants with previous at-sea experience are preferred. Membership of the ASG and BirdLife Australia/Birds New Zealand is essential (organisational membership is necessary for insurance reasons).

Contact Eric: eric.woehler@utas.edu.au 0438 204 565 or Nicholas: Nicholas.Carlile@environment.nsw.gov.au 0419 909 707″