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Status of pinnipeds on mid-Atlantic ridge islands, South Atlantic Ocean

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The status of pinnipeds on mid-Atlantic ridge islands is reviewed to detect trends that may relate to climate change. Small numbers of southern elephant seals Mirounga leonina breed on Gough Island (40°S, 10°W) and at Bouvetøya (54°24′S, 03°21′E) where numbers remained small over ~ 68 years. Vagrant southern elephant seals wandered farther north to tropical Saint Helena Island (15°57′S, 5°41′W) in historical times but have not been recorded there more recently. This suggests a contraction of their distributional range, as manifested in the decline in numbers to imminent extinction at Gough Island. At Gough Island and at Tristan da Cunha (37°05′S, 12°17′W), leopard seals Hydrurga leptonyx and Antarctic fur seals Arctocephalus gazella are occasional seasonal transients from Antarctic and sub-Antarctic islands and the circumpolar sea ice farther to the south. Large populations of Antarctic fur seals A. gazella and sub-Antarctic fur seals A. tropicalis breed at Bouvetøya and Gough Island, respectively. The current state of both populations is uncertain as other populations of conspecifics in the South Atlantic and South Indian oceans are in decline ostensibly contingent upon reduced food availability, likely precipitated by climate change.

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Acknowledgements

Logistical support at TdCI, including GI, was provided by the then South African Department of Environmental Affairs within the South African National Antarctic Programme. The Tristan da Cunha Conservation Department provided logistical and technical assistance for research conducted with the permission of the Administrator and Island Council of Tristan da Cunha. Ben Dilley (Percy FitzPatrick Institute for African Ornithology, University of Cape Town) prepared the map of the geographical positions of southern MAR and other islands. Michel Raynal (Paris, France) alerted me to the fact that I was in error with the claim of a first ever sighting of a leopard seal at Tristan da Cunha (Bester et al. 2017), and then plied me with historical records of marine mammal sightings ashore at SHI and elsewhere, for which I am extremely grateful. Greg Hofmeyr (past Bouvetøya expeditioner, now Curator: Marine Mammals, Port Elizabeth Museum at Bayworld) provided additional information and references, while Diane Baum (Head, Conservation Department, Government of Ascension Island), Lamont Ferreira (past member of staff, St. Mary’s School, Tristan da Cunha) and Chris Oosthuizen (past Bouvetøya expeditioner) shared their observations of seals. Peter Shaughnessy and Steve Kirkman provided insightful comments which vastly improved this paper.

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  1. Department of Zoology and Entomology, Mammal Research Institute, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X20, Hatfield, Pretoria, 0028, South Africa

    M. N. Bester

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Past field procedures on which this review is based were cleared by the University of Pretoria Animal Ethics Committee (Project Number EC077-15), executed under an Environmental Research Permit, including the Wildlife and Protected Areas Research Permit, of the Tristan da Cunha Government.

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Bester, M.N. Status of pinnipeds on mid-Atlantic ridge islands, South Atlantic Ocean. Polar Biol 44, 865–871 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-021-02838-z

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