Being in a six-and-a-half-metre inflatable boat with a blue whale right next to you is an extraordinary experience. Every time. ~ Dr Nick Gales
When I interviewed Dr Nick Gales for this article he was about to set sail for the outer Great Barrier Reef, a far cry from Antarctic waters where he has spent much of his career.
Awarded an Australian Antarctic medal by the Governor General in 2021, it is timely to reflect on the former director of the Australian Antarctic Division’s (AAD) contributions to Antarctic science over four decades.
Gales retired as director of the AAD at the end of 2018, but remains Australia’s commissioner to the International Whaling Commission (IWC).
Starting out in the 1980s as a veterinary scientist studying elephant seals and penguins at Heard and McDonald islands and at Davis Station, he went on to have an influential scientific and management career in the division.
He was the first director to winter in Antarctica, which he said was enormously helpful to “genuinely understand the experience of expeditioners”.
Gales’ research led to a marine mammal program in the Southern Ocean and non-lethal research that has provided a scientific basis for conservation and management of Southern Ocean whales.
He played a key role in developing the Australian Marine Mammal Centre at the AAD and was a scientific adviser at the IWC’s Scientific Committee meetings, ultimately acting as a witness for Australia in the successful International Court of Justice finding against Japan’s Southern Ocean whaling program.
“The court case with Japan was an extraordinary thing, going to the International Court of Justice,” Dr Gales said.
“We spent three years in the lead up to the case with no expectation that Australia would win, and we ended up winning … I was thrilled to be part of that, as a science advisor and as a witness in the case. Policy needs to be well-informed by science. That has driven me in my scientific and management career. And the court case with Japan was a good example of this,” he said.
“With my work on marine mammals and as chief scientist and then director of the Australian Antarctic Division, it’s all about seeing evidence and science being built into good policy decisions that lead to good outcomes.”
In addition to work on marine mammals, Nick Gales has been involved with climate science. “Our scientists at the Antarctic program took politicians gently through the science, a hugely important role that the program makes in terms of explaining what the science says,” he said.
And on a personal level? “I’ve been so lucky having the privilege to do this work. I led a team developing satellite tags – small implantable tags, for whale research. Without any doubt, being in a six-and-a-half-metre inflatable boat with a blue whale right next to you is an extraordinary experience. Every time. The sheer grace and size and power of the animals.
“But as well as being exciting, the data is very important for the management of these marine creatures.”
As Tasmanians, we are in the box seat. “We’re very lucky,” Gales said, speaking of Tasmania’s east coast in particular. “There’s a huge humpback whale population now; it’s grown from a handful, perhaps one or two hundred, to well over 30,000. We can see them on their travels.
“Thanks to the moratorium on whaling and Australia’s actions, we have seen the population recover.”
Gales said the new icebreaker RSV Nuyina, would be “an extraordinary marine research facility able to resupply and access our stations in a way that we’ve never done before”.
Nick Gales holds an honorary Doctorate from the University of Tasmania. He was one of two long-time Antarctic scientists to have been recognised in 2021 with Antarctic Medals for outstanding service in the Australian Antarctic Program, for research that spans the full spectrum of Antarctic marine life, from blue whales to tiny krill. The other was Tasmanian Associate Professor Patti Virtue.
Dr Katherine Johnson is a science writer and novelist based in Tasmania. She has published in The Conversation, Good Weekend (Sydney Morning Herald) and CSIRO’s ECOS magazine. Her fourth novel, Paris Savages, was released in the UK in 2020. More about her and her writing can be seen at KatherineJohnsonauthor.com.