DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE OF SEABIRDS AND FUR SEALS NEAR THE ANTARCTIC PENINSULA DURING THE AUSTRAL WINTER, 1986

Twenty one species of seabirds plus fur seals were observed at sea nea r the Antarctic Peninsula, between 60-degrees-68-degrees-S, in May and June 1986, a season for which few published observations of marine an imals are available for this area. Here we describe and quantify the i mportance of fishing activities as well as sea-ice cover and other env ironmental variables to the distribution patterns of birds and seals. The most striking aspect of the winter avifauna was its pronounced con centration near fishing trawlers operating on the continental shelf to the north and west of Elephant Island, and its temporal shift in resp onse to the seasonal advance of the ice edge.