Sunday 26th June 2022 SOSSA PELAGIC TRIP, KIAMA, NSW, AUSTRALIA

Here's what was seen outside the harbour on a Kiama pelagic on the MV Kato on Sunday 26 June 2022. This pelagic was organised by SOSSA for a group of photographers. The trip list uses the IOC Checklist v12.1 (Jan. 2022) for taxonomy, nomenclature & order of species. It gives fairly conservative numbers, which are estimates for the commoner species. There's also a map from Google Earth showing our route and chumming spots.

Leaving Kiama harbour at 07.35 hrs we headed straight for the shelf edge, stopping briefly about half way out to investigate a large (50+) pod of Common Dolphins and some Humpback Whales. The main birds to be seen were Australasian Gannets which occasionally showed off their fishing skills, plunging from the sky into the water. We passed some prions but didn't get a good enough look to confirm their identities.

Arriving at the shelf edge we stopped in 132 fathoms/241 m at 34 46 00 S; 151 10 16 E, about 32 kms ESE of the harbour. Here we began to chum with a mixture of beef suet, pilchards and fish discards, along with a generous dollop of tuna oil. Our supplier had not been able to provide us with our usual chicken mince so we had to make do without it. Despite our best efforts there was scarcely a bird to be seen as we drifted slowly 2.9 km south in the northerly current. An occasional Solander's Petrel passed by, and eventually an Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross and a juvenile Northern Giant Petrel came in to investigate, but birdlife was decidedly sparse, despite there being several boats undertaking fishing charters nearby.

After an hour or so, we moved into some deeper (180 fathoms/329 m) waters at 34 47 48 S; 151 09 58 E and began another session of chumming. Birdlife was similar to our previous spot, so, after drifting 3.15 km south, we moved a couple of kilometres west, still in shelf edge waters and began a further chumming session at 34 50 01 S; 151 09 25 E, in 141 fathoms/258 m 32.6 km from the harbour. After about half an hour here with little change in bird numbers from the previous spots, we turned back to the harbour at 12.45 hrs.

On the way back in spray thrown up by the boat sent everyone under cover, but we still saw some more Humpback Whales, including several breaching spectacularly. We arrived back at the mooring at 14.55 hrs.

Sea conditions were fairly good in a swell of 0.5-1m; sea temperature at the shelf edge was 21.13 degrees.

Highlight of the day was probably the cetaceans, though the young giant petrel proved fairly obliging.

Species seen outside the harbour, maximum at any one time in brackets:

125 Silver Gull: 20+ (6)
981 Kelp Gull: 1 (1) adult
115 Greater Crested Tern: 1 (1) surprisingly few seen
088 Black-browed Albatross: 1 (1) immature
Black-browed Albatross types: 2 (1) adults which did not come in close to us
864 Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross: 3 (2)
931 Buller's Albatross: 1 (1)
937 Northern Giant Petrel: 2 (1)
Giant Petrel sp.: 1 (1) too distant to be identified with certainty
083 Fairy Prion??: 5 (1) views/photos too poor to confirm identity
971 Solander's Petrel: 20+ (3) all were at the shelf edge
068 Fluttering Shearwater: 3 (1) seen by some observers
104 Australasian Gannet: 25+ (2)

In addition to the large pod of Common Dolphins and the Humpback Whales seen on the outward and return legs, a sunfish sp. showed its dorsal fin at one of our stopping points.

Report prepared by Graham Barwell