Hi all,
As promised here's a separate pelagic report for the recent trip we did off
Norfolk. Very few pelagic trips have been undertaken in this area so there
is a real chance of turning up something novel for Oz. Unlike my experience
on Lord Howe (see the archive) I found organizing this trip easy. I rang
Kim's fishing charter (PH 22223) on the Wednesday night and after explaining
that there were two of us and we wanted to spend the good part of a day out
at the shelf (8-10 miles off NI) was told provided the weather was OK we'd
go on Friday. At $50 a head it was excellent value! Kim seemed genuinely
interested in what we saw and kept us posted on the sea depth and our
position throughout the day.
Friday 3 September 1999 aboard the 'Rhianon'
Observers: Rohan Clarke, Brent Stevenson and two others fishing Skipper Kim
..., Deckhand ...?.
Weather: clear skies till the shelf then patchy overcast conditions for
remainder of day. South easterly seabreeze up to 5 knot.
Sea: 2-3.5m lumpy and irregular swell but otherwise glassy. 3/6 seasick.
Activity: Departed 0800 Kingston Jetty, south past Phillip Island to shelf
(~8 miles) 1000 then south along shelf edge (100-200m depth) for a further
15 miles, left shelf 1305, docked 1530 at Kingston NI.
Mammals: Risso's Dolphin 2, Bottle-nosed Dolphin 5+3+2 all large oceanic
form.
Birds: Because we had people wishing to 'bottom fish' we didn't continue out
beyond the shelf but still one of the best one-day pelagic trips I've been
on. Lots of good birds with most making close approaches despite our lack of
berley. The White-bellied Storm Petrel arrived while we were at the shelf
and hung around for several minutes allowing us to clinch the ID and take
several photographs.
Black-winged Petrel 27(4)
Mottled Petrel 3 (1)
White-necked Petrel 1
Gould's Petrel 2 (2)
Tahiti Petrel 1
Providence Petrel 2 (2)
[White-headed Petrel 1? very distant]
White-bellied Storm-Petrel 1 at sea near shelf (1st live record for
Norfolk?)
Little Shearwater 351 (150)
Wedge-tailed Shearwater 174 (30)
Sooty Shearwater 2 (1)
Masked Booby 59 (20)
Red-tailed Tropic Bird 5 (2)
White Tern 25 (6)
Grey Ternlet 86 (20)
Common Noddy 1
Black Noddy 26 (10)
Ruddy Turnstone 2 (2)
Cheers Rohan
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