Among the longest Antarctic biological time series is that of Adélie penguin Pygoscelis adeliae population size at Cape Royds, 1955 to the present. Demographic trends over the 66 years fall into five periods: 1) decrease then recovery due to control of tourism from McMurdo Station/Scott Base; 2) further increase responding to the removal of > 20 000 trophically competing Antarctic minke whales Balaenoptera bonaerensis from the colony's wintering area; 3) stabilization but not decrease upon the ban of whaling in 1982, and whale recovery, owing to increased winds facilitating McMurdo Sound Polynya presence (easier ocean access during nesting); 4) decrease in 2001–2005 when two mega-icebergs, B15A/C16, opposed the wind effect by increasing sea-ice cover, thus limiting ocean access; and 5) after iceberg departure, minimal recovery due to the increased velocity of the wind-generated Ross Gyre reducing penguin breeding probability. A multivariant model using 1998–2018 data confirmed the roles of gyre speed (negative) and open water (positive) in colony growth. Additional negative influence came from high nest predation by south polar skuas Stercorarius maccormicki, reducing chick production, as well as perhaps increased trophic competition from nearby Weddell seals Leptonychotes weddellii. Clearly, long time series increase our understanding of penguin population dynamics responding to a complexity of factors.

Cetaceans in the eastern South Atlantic Ocean are poorly studied. We present results from a 2 week ship-based survey from Cape Town to Vema Seamount (980 km to the west) during October–November 2019, including visual and towed-hydrophone observations from the vessel, and 10 days of acoustic monitoring on the seamount. Fifty-two hours of visual surveys resulted in 39 encounters of whale groups including seven of humpback, six of fin and one sei whale, as well as four unidentified baleen whales, 18 unidentified balaenopterid whales and four unidentified odontocetes. Two humpback whales at the seamount were engaged in possible feeding behaviour. A large aggregation of mostly fin whales was observed near the continental shelf edge (22 encounters over a 70 × 50 km2 area, six fin, one sei whale, 15 not confirmed to species), an historic whaling ground for both fin and sei whales. Towed-hydrophone data (78.7 h) detected five groups of sperm whales, 45 of delphinids, one beaked whale and no Kogiids. Acoustic data from the seamount detected calls from several baleen whale species including humpback whale non-song calls, Antarctic minke ‘bioduck’ calls, sei whale down-sweep calls and a likely Bryde's whale call. Two call types could not be assigned to species, including the most detected – a simple frequency-modulated call with peak power around 130 Hz. This study contributes to an improved understanding of cetacean occurrence in the eastern South Atlantic Ocean and highlights the need for more research to improve identification of cetacean vocalizations in the region.

Approximately five centuries of the involvement of Portugal in Antarctic regions is described. Discoveries, the sealing and whaling industries, and modern developments are discussed.

Observations on the external locations of harpoon wounds were made on 127 minke whales Balaenoptera acutorostrata taken during Japanese commercial whaling operations in the 1978/79 Antarctic season. The numbers of wounds per whale did not vary between catcher boats, the average being 1.2. Although the cranio-thoracic region seemed to be the target of choice (bearing 60.5% of all wounds examined), the proportion of wounds in this region varied significantly between catcher boats, ranging from 43.6 to 75.7 per cent. It is suggested that this variation arose because to hit the cranio-thoracic region, the first section of the whale to surface, requires considerable skill on the part of the gunner.

Whaling continues despite a global moratorium, and the methods of slaughter used are a controversial welfare issue. If a whale is not killed instantly by an explosive harpoon, the Japanese use electric lances as a secondary killing device.

Video footage was obtained which documented the sequence of events in Japanese whaling operations, including the harpooning and application of electric lances to seven whales. A minimum time to death of each whale was estimated. To achieve immediate insensibility using electrical stunning, the electrodes must span the brain. This video revealed that electrodes tend to be placed between the pectoral and dorsal fins, and on the same side of the whale. In this case only a small proportion of current would pass through the brain, and ventricular fibrillation is unlikely. Previous work has shown that the currents used were likely to be 50-100 times too small to cause cardiac fibrillation or cerebral dysfunction.

A humane death cannot be achieved with inappropriate placement of lances and inadequate current application. A more effective secondary killing method is necessary.

Recently, the method by which Japanese and Norwegian whalers kill minke whales has come under scrutiny on welfare grounds. Whales are still caught with a grenade tipped harpoon fired from a cannon. The harpoon is targeted to strike the animal in the thorax, though the pattern of harpoon strikes is variable and some can even be struck in the tail. Once the whale is harpooned, it is winched to the ship and if not dead, attempts are made to kill it either by electrocution or with rifles. Some studies indicate that less than 30 per cent of animals are killed instantaneously, though best practice can achieve 50 per cent of animals killed instantaneously but with wounded animals surviving for up to one hour. To kill any wild animal humanely, immediate insensibility must be induced. Whilst in principle the methods used on whales could induce immediate insensibility, there are indications that neither harpooning nor the secondary killing processes, like electrocution or rifle bullets, are achieving this in an acceptable proportion of the animals taken. Comparison of the killing processes used on minke whales with killing processes used on other animals, indicated that there are several areas where improvements could increase the proportion of whales killed instantaneously and reduce the suffering of wounded animals. Whilst harpooning may remain the favoured method of taking whales, and some improvements have been made in the number of whales killed instantaneously, the equipment has evolved little from that originally developed by the Norwegians in the Nineteenth Century. As currently practised few people would consider the current methods employed by the whaling industry to be humane.

Data are presented on a number of aspects of a drive hunt of a pod of long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas; Traill) which occurred in the Faroe Islands in July 1992. Empirical data collected by observers are presented on aspects of the drive and killing phase of the drive hunt. These focus on the welfare implications of the two main pieces of equipment used in the hunt, the gaff and the knife. The body zone targeted by the gaff ranged from the melon to the dorsal fin. Ten of the 14 initial uses of the gaff recorded resulted in the whale being insecurely fastened and entailed further gaff strikes. Five case studies are presented of towing times, before cutting occurred but post-gaffing, when the whale was secured by the gaff to a boat (median: 66s). The number of gaff strikes on an individual whale ranged from zero to four (median: two). Fifty-seven per cent of cutting episodes using the knife were initiated behind the blowhole, 43per cent on the whales ‘flanks. Data on the sequential use of the gaff and the knife are presented for seven whales. Data are also presented on the duration of the cutting episodes for these seven whales (median: 80s) and the total time elapsed from initial wounding until loss of voluntary movement occurred (median: 126s). Certain behaviours shown by the whale after the use of the gaff and knife are discussed and analysed in the context of the physiology, anatomy and social structure of pilot whales. Conclusions are presented on a number of welfare aspects of this hunt and compared with data from other whaling operations.

The International Whaling Commission (IWC) currently uses imprecise indicators of death to evaluate the welfare consequences of whaling. A recent independent meeting of animal welfare scientists proposed a series of tests to determine the states of sensibility/insensibility/death of whales. As a precursor to assessing these tests in the field, conjoint analysis was used to evaluate expert opinion and to identify tests deemed most suitable for establishing insensibility and death. The results of this study indicated that experts considered measurement of breathing rate, cardiac activity, coordinated swimming and ocular temperature to be among the most useful for determining that animals were not dead. Furthermore, experts considered that judgements that an animal was dead should be made only after application of a series of different tests. The tests identified may be valuable for assessing stranded whales or animals taken as part of whaling operations.

Animal ethics is concerned with an examination of the beliefs that are held about the moral status of non-human animals. It is concerned, therefore, not with describing how animals are treated but with how they ought to be treated. This paper focuses upon two particular ethical approaches chosen because they enable us to understand more clearly the debate about the moral status of animals in general, and whales in particular, as well as offering a way of maximising consensus in the debate. The first, which describes the dominant discourse within the International Whaling Commission (IWC), is based on the argument that our duties to non-human animals are indirect, such that their protection is dependent upon the degree to which it is in our interests to do so. This is the logic behind the discourse of anthropocentric conservation. The second approach is the ethic of animal welfare. Unlike anthropocentric conservationism, the animal welfare ethic is not based upon denying, or ignoring, the moral standing of non-human animals, and is consistent with the widespread acceptance, in theory and practice, that we do have direct duties to animals, that they do have moral standing.

Subsistence whale hunting dates back to 400AD (Perrin et al 2009). Large-scale industrialised whaling to provide whale oil commenced in the late nineteenth century. Hunts escalated in the early 20th century and reports to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) show that over two million great whales were killed in hunts in the Southern Ocean between 1925 and 1985 and that unreported ‘pirate’ whaling was also widespread (Clapham & Ivashenko 2009). In 1982, as several whale species neared extinction, the IWC agreed an international moratorium on commercial whaling, which took effect in 1986.

Although the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling states it is:

its Article VIII allows any Contracting Government to:

The welfare of animals is a major factor affecting the acceptability of human activities, and hence their sustainability, and whales are the subject of much concern because they are considered to be sentient animals. The scientific study of animal welfare has developed rapidly and now allows evaluation of the effects on whale welfare of disturbance by boats, harpoon entry, pulling whales to a boat, capture procedures, the point of unconsciousness and consequences for animals that escape. Useful data are now being collected on some aspects but recent evidence shows that, on average, during the capture and killing of whales, there is a high magnitude of poor welfare and the procedure is not humane.