Seabirds off the South-western Coast of Australia

Abstract

All seabirds encountered at sea from 6–19 December 1994, between Port Lincoln, South Australia and Fremantle, Western Australia were recorded mostly over continental shelf waters. Shearwaters were the seabirds observed most often, three species replacing each other along the coastline in shelf waters adjacent to their known breeding localities. Terns were also largely confined to shelf waters. In contrast, a great diversity of albatrosses and petrels was associated with two intrusions of cooler, low-salinity waters. Inshore, the influence of the warm Leeuwin Current on seabird distributions was apparent on the southern, in addition to the western, coast of Western Australia.