This will be Paul Sagar’s eleventh trip to Antarctica.
He completed a Master of Science based on an abundant shallow-water marine Antarctic amphipod. From there he focused on various terrestrial, freshwater, and marine food chains with research mostly on long-term population dynamics and diet.
Since 1992, he has mainly been working on seabirds and their interactions with fisheries. This has involved extended field work on subantarctic islands with research moving more into remote sensing and the exciting possibilities of determining how seabirds manage to survive at sea.
Paul’s first trip to Antarctica was in 1971. The following year (1972), he was back in Antarctica on a small research vessel that sank. He was stranded floating on ice for five days. This did not deter him. From 1975–1977, his research trips to Antarctica focused on New Zealand subantarctic islands seabirds research.
Onboard Tangaroa, Paul Sagar will be observing seabirds. He has an observation check sheet with 40–50 species on it. More bird diversity appears in lower latitudes. Closer to the South Pole, there are fewer species but greater concentrations of birds. Tangaroa will be working across an interesting area for the number and species of birds present.
Paul will also be assisting with the stable isotope work while in Antarctica.
