We compare the diet and the foraging distribution of Adélie penguins at Hope Bay/Esperanza, during the late part of the breeding season and their subsequent post breeding dispersal in two consecutive years. We also compare data from the krill fishery to describe Adélie penguin foraging areas with krill fishery activity at spatial and temporal scale.
During both seasons, the bulk of the diet was represented by krill. Foraging locations during the breeding period were concentrated to the west of the colony and in the northern Bransfield Strait/Mar de la Flota in both years. During the pre-moulting period, Adélie penguins dispersed away from the colony and foraged further to the east in the northern Weddell Sea up to 400 km from the colony. During the breeding period of 2013, Adélie foraging areas and fishery activity showed an overlap in both temporal and spatial scale; no such direct overlap was apparent during the following season.
Our results showed that foraging areas during breeding and postbreeding dispersal are consistent across years, suggesting that the Bransfield - Weddell shift region is an important feeding area for Adélie penguins breeding in the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula.