In the first of a series of special reports on extraordinary marine environments under threat, Guardian Australia’s ocean correspondent visits a ‘pinprick’ in the Southern Ocean where, once a year, a jaw-dropping wonder of nature takes place.
Even before our boat left the shelter of Bremer Bay boat harbour, in south-west Western Australia, shortly after dawn on the first day of the region’s 2015 killer whale season, it felt like we were already at the edge of the world.
I was there to see a tiny place, far out to sea, that marine scientists and environmentalists regard as one of the most special ocean ecosystems anywhere in Australia’s commonwealth waters.
We would motor more than 65km offshore to a location not much bigger than a few football fields, where the ocean is 4.5km deep and weather conditions are almost always treacherous. Where we were going there was a not a single distinguishing feature or landmark – just a GPS point.
That spot is the scene of a phenomenon whose astonishing value has only recently been discovered, that few know about but whose fate hangs in the balance – right now.
More than anything, though, no one yet knows for sure why each year, during February and March, life from around the Southern Ocean converges on that relatively minute speck in the ocean wilderness.
What is known is that there is a sudden, annual explosion of life that leads to feasting by an array of animals, attracting every level of the marine food chain – from bacteria and jellyfish through to killer whales, large pelagic sharks and wandering albatross.
