The Antarctic krill fisheries have evolved to operate in ever more concentrated geographical areas of predictable high krill densities, and knowledge about trends and variability in krill biomass, distribution and swarm structure on these local scales seems critical for assessing the three-way interactions between krill, krill-dependent predators and the krill fishery. Acoustic data collected from the fishing vessels might help provide such insight. In the present work, the dynamics of krill with regards to abundance and distribution as well as swarm characteristics and diel vertical migration were studied using acoustic data from the Chinese krill fishing vessel ‘Fu Rong Hai’ operating in the Bransfield Strait from late austral summer (February) to autumn (March to May), and its potential impact on the fishing efficiency were also examined. Only detected and delineated swarms were included in the integration assuming they constituted the bulk of krill biomass. Our results indicated a major shift in mid-April which included increased biomass, increased vertical distribution of swarms, a shift in diel vertical migration from upward migration during daytime in February-March to downward migration during daytime in May, and also a shift in the length distribution of krill. The results strongly support recent findings of an inshore krill migration from summer to winter, and indicates that the migration is also followed by a gradual shift in swarming behavior. Our results further showed that the fishing vessel operated in areas of very high swarm encounter rates, and that the trawling occurred on the highest krill concentrations, indicating that the fishing strategy of this vessel was to target krill swarms of maximum density. In addition, the functional relationships between the catch per unit effort (CPUE) and potential impact factors showed that the catching efficiency increased over the season and was positively related to both krill packing density and acoustic biomass, but negatively related to the center depth of gravity. The results demonstrate that new understanding of krill seasonal dynamics and its influence on fishing efficiency can be gained based on data collected from a fishing vessel under operation, and underlines the utility of a full implementation of the SG-ASAM plans for data collection from fishing vessels.

The analysis of euphausiid larvae collected during summer 2011 in the Weddell Scotia Confluence región, in 2012 on the WAP and Scotia Sea and 2014 on the South Orkneys Platform show a strong decrease in the abundance of Euphausia superba larvae and an increase in Thysanoessa macrura in 2011 and 2012 and a strong increase in the abundance of E. superba in 2014. Oceanographic conditions didn’t show any significant variations respect historical information. The analysis was conducted using cluster analysis finding that the associations of the different larvae and especies correspond to the available information. The densities observed during the cruises were compared with densities obtained in 1981 and 1995 calculating expected values at a fixed grid of points. The significance of the differences was established using a binomial test on their signs.

The usability of CPUE data as Antarctic krill abundance index was a widely discussed issue. Many studies suggested the CPUE data should be standardized before using as abundance/biomass index. We tried to develop general additive models to standardize the CPUE data collected from Chinese fishing vessels during 2009/10 -2013/14 seasons. We also compared the CPUE data and acoustic data collected by Chinese fishing vessel Furonghai in 2015/16 season. The result showed that the CPUE data could be impacted by fishing activity, environmental and spatial and temporal factors. Ten days and monthly could be fine temporal scales for CPUE statistic. Catch per hour data could be more close to the acoustic data than catch per day data. The veridical distribution and movement of krill could be important source of differences between CPUE and acoustic data. The uncertainties and biases of CPUE data implied that CPUE used to indicate the krill stock abundance should be very caution. However, the dynamics of CPUE could indicate the changing trends of the density of krill in the water close to sea surface, which may be concerned by krill feedback management.

The attached draft Climate Change Response Work Program addresses the remaining Terms of Reference of the Intersessional Correspondence Group (ICG) to develop approaches for integrating considerations of the impacts of climate change into the work of CCAMLR (components of TORs 7 and 8). It aims to build on related work of the Commission, SC-CAMLR and its working groups, and to link with related work being undertaken by the Committee for Environmental Protection (CEP). 

The CCAMLR Ecosystem Monitoring Program (CEMP) was established to detect changes in the krill-based ecosystems, providing a basis for regulating harvesting of Antarctic living marine resources in accordance with the ‘ecosystem approach’.  This report provides:

1. Details on CEMP data that have been submitted for 2016/17, including an area-based comparison of the 2016/17 observations with  the previous season
2. A summary of available CEMP data and metadata and any issues encountered with data submitted to the Secretariat.
3. An update on the spatial analysis of CEMP data in subarea 48.1 using Combined Standardised Indices (CSIs) for Breeding Seasons parameters and population size data.

The sentiment of online content containing Antarctic krill fishing and related search terms 12 was analysed to evaluate public perception of the fishery, as a consideration in management 13 decisions. The Antarctic krill fishery is managed by the Commission for the Conservation of 14 Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) which aims to manage the fishery with 15 minimal ecosystem impacts. A combination of recent increases in catches and perceived 16 negative environmental impacts of fishing for Antarctic krill has caused concern for the 17 future of krill populations among stakeholders and has resulted in an ongoing public debate. 18 The tenor of this debate is inevitably guided by access to information about Antarctic krill, 19 typically through online searches and social media. Public perception of the fishery was 20 analysed through sentiment and relevant keyword searches from three online platforms 21 (Factiva®, Google and Twitter). The analysis revealed an overall neutral to positive 22 sentiment of Antarctic krill fishing related content across all search platforms. This study 23 forms a baseline result for future monitoring of sentiment regarding Antarctic krill fishing as 24 it continues to operate in a changing environment as well as a providing a method for using 25 online content sentiment analysis to gauge the public’s perception of other fisheries.

As part of the German contribution to Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), we will conduct an acoustic krill (Euphausia superba) biomass survey in CCAMLR division 48.1 during April 2018. The survey will be part of a larger research cruise (PS112) investigating the role of krill and salps in Southern Ocean carbon cycling and the temperature adaptation capacities of both species in the context of climate change. Acoustic survey and physiological experiments will be conducted in conjunction with a detailed description of the biological and physical environment of the krill habitat. The overall objective of the German contribution is to provide an overarching assessment of the effect of climate change on krill and associated ecosystem-processes. The aim of this particular proposal however is to discuss the proposed design and methods of the acoustic biomass survey to ensure they align with CCAMLR standard procedures and are comparable with previous krill biomass surveys.

Marine ecosystems are becoming increasingly threatened by anthropogenic disturbances, and understanding where marine top predators forage is vital to ecosystem based marine spatial planning. Using habitat models to understand which variables influence the distribution of predators at-sea can enable us to predict the distributions of un-tracked populations, and thus help to identify any potential threats they may face. In the Southern Ocean the expanding krill fisheries have the potential to impact penguin populations. We show that the distribution of chinstrap penguins can be predicted using two simple variables; the distance to the colony and a measure of the direction of travel towards the shelf edge, whilst avoiding high densities of Pygoscelis penguins from other colonies. Additionally, we find that the chinstrap penguins breeding on the South Orkney Islands use areas which overlap with frequently used krill fishing areas. If the krill fisheries continue to expand, then impacts on the penguin populations may become evident. With this in mind, we recommend the implementation of monitoring schemes to investigate the effects of prey depletion on predator populations, and to ensure that management is addressed at spatial and temporal scales relevant to ecosystem operation.

Summary of the SOOS West Antarctic Peninsula Working Group meeting held in Cambridge, UK, May 15-16th 2017