Meet the Whale Hunters

Veteran polar film maker Max Quinn had been on seven Antarctic expeditions, yet he didn't think twice about it when the eighth opportunity arose. And the fact that this expedition involved non-lethal whale research just made the decision to go so much easier.

Max professes that he has had a love affair with whales ever since his first contact with the minkes of Antarctica while wintering over at Scott Base in 1991. There he was able to capture intriguing footage of the minke among the ice pack. Since then Max has had several more opportunities to film also other species, in particular the southern right whales of New Zealand’s sub Antarctic islands.

So at the beginning of February, Max joined the Australian Antarctic Division's expedition team consisting of some of the world's foremost whale researchers aboard the NIWA vessel Tangaroa on a journey that is the first of its kind.

With the expedition designed to counter the lethal approach that Japan is using for its research on whales, the scientists are using darting guns and satellite tags to obtain as much information about Antarctica's whales as possible without harming a single whale. Having arrived in the survey zone after more than two weeks at sea, there were many frustrations, with rough conditions prevailing and only single whale sightings around the ice edge.

Those on board Tangaroa made use of their "unproductive time" to do practise runs with their gear and safety drills... But they had their fair share of fun too...

"As we crossed the Antarctic circle at around 60 degrees south, a special ceremony was held on board where the team was officially inducted into an exclusive club of South Polar Sea Dogs," explains Max."We each had to kneel and declare in front of our captain, Andrew Leachman, playing the role of that mythical character Australis Rex...that 'I Max Quinn, have paid humble and due honour to the passage south and is of sound but watery character...' etc etc.

"To cut a long story short, each one of us had to kiss a raw fish, have fishy gloop smeared across our foreheads and finally cuddle a whale - in this case a giant blow-up whale."

Having paid due homage, Max then became the proud recipient of an official Australian Antarctic Division certificate commemorating his induction into this ancient Polar Order.

But fun aside, while rough conditions prevailed, everyone on this expedition couldn't wait to do some actual work. Max meanwhile, had the amazing austral vistas and imposing icebergs to capture on tape.

Towards the third week of their journey, when everybody on board started feeling "a bit low", because of rough weather and the low number of whale sightings, conditions changed and the team had one magnificent day with whales all around them.

"Eighteen whales were tagged in just ONE day! I didn't get out on the water but the real drama was on the bridge and filming the euphoria of the teams as they came back on board." Max says he was running around the three areas where the action took place. From the foredeck he filmed the activities on the water, on the bridge the whale spotters were going flat-out relaying instructions to the crews on the water and down to the trawl deck where the boats with their exited crews came back on board.

At the time when this article was written Max hadn’t had the chance yet to go out with the tagging crews by boat. Because of the early arrival of a cold front the boats have been withdrawn from the water and Max had to put all his concentration into keeping his sea legs steady.

But while the weather hampered the on-water activities scientists could already move on to the next level of their research. "With data from the tagged whales getting back to the ship their progress could already be tracked. And really that is what this expedition is all about," says Max. "If you kill a whale you can’t find out anything about its migratory habits...but a whale carrying a satellite tag will tell scientists much about their movements around our oceans."