Part 64Antarctic Specially Protected Area No. 164

Part 64 Antarctic Specially Protected Area No. 164

1 Name and Location

  Scullin and Murray Monoliths, MacRobertson Land, East Antarctica.

  Latitude 67 47 01 S, longitude 66 40 31 E.

  Scullin and Murray Monoliths (67° 47 S, 66° 42 E and 67° 47 S, 66° 53 E) hold the greatest concentration of breeding seabird colonies in East Antarctica, including the second largest colony of Antarctic petrels Thalassoica antarctica. The Scullin and Murray Monoliths ASPA is a breeding locality for at least 160 000 pairs of Antarctic petrels from a minimum estimated global total of approximately half a million pairs (van Franeker et al. 1999). Scullin Monolith was recently recognised as a candidate Important Bird Area (IBA) using IUCN/BirdLife International criteria on known breeding populations by the SCAR Bird Biology subcommittee in mid-2002 (SCAR unpubl. data).

  Adélie penguin colonies occupy the lower slopes of both monoliths, extending almost to the foreshore. Approximately 50 000 pairs nest on Scullin Monolith and a further 20 000 pairs on Murray Monolith. This represents approximately 10% of the Adélie penguin breeding population for East Antarctica and approximately 3% of the global population.

  Many of the ocean-facing slopes of both monoliths are used for breeding by petrels. Extensive breeding colonies of four species of petrels occupy many of the steeper, higher-altitude slopes of both monoliths. The Antarctic petrel colony on Scullin Monolith is second in population only to the colony at Svarthameren in the Mühlig Hofmannfjella, in Dronning Maud Land. South Polar skuas nest throughout the ASPA, making use of the high density of breeding seabirds as prey during their breeding season.

  While larger colonies of seabirds are known from elsewhere in East Antarctica (e.g. the Rauer Group), it is the extensive populations (total known breeding population conservatively estimated at 230 000 pairs equivalent to a minimum of 460 000 individual breeding seabirds) and rich species diversity (seven breeding species) within the very small ice-free areas of Scullin and Murray Monoliths (estimated ice free area of 1.9 and 0.9 km2, respectively, total of 2.8 km2) that make these the greatest concentration and one of the most diverse seabird breeding localities known from East Antarctica.

  There are no data on population trends available, and the census and survey data collected in 1986/87 serve as baseline data for all future ornithological work in the Area. Some limited census data were collected from Reference Breeding Groups (RBGs) established in the mid 1980s to monitor the Antarctic petrel population; there have been no surveys of these RBGs for more than a decade. Many Adélie penguin breeding populations throughout East Antarctica have increased in the last 20 or so years, and it is likely that the Adélie penguin population within the Scullin and Murray Monoliths ASPA is greater than the 70 000 pairs reported from 1986/87. Further, it is likely that the 1986/87 census under-estimated the breeding population of Antarctic petrels, given the census occurred late in the breeding season.