Pristine Seas – National Geographic Expedition to Tristan da Cunha

Posted on January 06, 2017

The goals of the Pristine Seas project are to find, survey, and help protect the last wild places in the ocean.

To this end, National Geographic’s Pristine Seas project, in collaboration with the Royal Society for the Protections of Birds (RSPB) and the Tristan da Cunha Government will conduct a 21-day expedition to Tristan da Cunha, Nightingale, Inaccessible and Gough islands in January-February 2017.  Primary goals of the expedition are to conduct comprehensive quantitative surveys of the health of its largely unknown marine environment, and produce a documentary film to highlight this unique ecosystem and its people.

Prof. Marthán Bester and PhD student Mia Wege from the University of Pretoria's Mammal Research Institute and Department of Zoology & Entomology will join to the expedition and continue ongoing seal research.

The expedition vessel SVS Grenville will leave from Cape Town, South Africa on January 8, 2017 with a planned arrival to Tristan on January 15.  Scientific exploration and filming of the Tristan da Cunha archipelago for 21 days will ensue, the ship returning to Cape Town on the 12th of February.

Progress during the expedition can be followed on:

http://nationalgeographic.org/projects/pristine-seas/tristan-da-cunha-expedition/

- Author Chris Weldon

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