Accurate census counts are fundamental to population management, but can be challenging to obtain in remote polar environments. The standard approach for income breeding pinnipeds, such as the Antarctic fur seal (Arctocephalus gazella), is to annually survey pup production. Fur seal population dynamics in the South Shetland archipelago are largely driven by two breeding colonies, Cape Shirreff and the Saint Telmo Islands. Although annual counts have been undertaken at Cape Shirreff since the 1990’s, logistical challenges have prevented surveys of the St Telmo Islands since 2008. Over the last decade unmanned aerial systems (UAS), or drones, have become indispensable tools for wildlife monitoring. We used a medium-range vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) UAS to obtain pup counts from the St Telmo Islands during the 2018-19 field season. The APH-28 provided a minimally-invasive, robust, and accurate (error rates <2%) survey tool. The corrected 2019 census count from the St Telmo Islands was 333, which represents a 79% reduction since the most recent survey in 2008, and a 90% reduction from the peak of recent production in 1997. Given the historical importance of Cape Shirreff and St Telmo to the AFS population dynamics in the South Shetlands archipelago, these declines emphasize the need to synoptically survey all known and potential breeding sites across the South Shetland Islands as soon as is practicable.

India is getting prepared to take up studies on Krill associated ecosystem studies in the Western Indian Ocean sector of the Southern Ocean, through in-situ ship survey in the area during Austral summer 2019-20. The proposed objectives are to to understand the distribution and biomass of krill in the western Indian Ocean Sector of the Southern Ocean, to relate larval/adult krill with the prevailing oceanographic/environmental set-up, to examine the spatial pattern of the resource and the forcing and response functions that regulate the distribution, ultimately, to explain the impact due to change in climate or long term variations. Special emphasis will be given on the regional ecosystem processes encountered along the two meridional transects which National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research (NCPOR), India is being monitored regularly.

While fishery-dependent data represents the preferential way to collect geographically spreadtime series of data to study the Antarctic toothfish, it is limited to areas where commercial fishing is permitted either by management or vessel operational constraints. The use of Baited Remote Underwater Video (BRUV) allows a solution to this problem. Thanks to the collaboration between New Zealand and Italy, from 2015 to 2018 a series of BRUV samplings have been carried out from the fast ice of McMurdo Sound and Terra Nova Bay, in the southwestern Ross Sea. Here we report a methodological approach to obtain from the videos recorded information on abundance and size distribution related to a series of predictive variables, including an approach to account for bias in counting the number of individuals attracted to the bait. Because we are now focussed on developing the method, the results are preliminary. The aim of the paper is to disseminate to the Members the methodology that we have used. Once refined, our hope is that it could provide a mechanism for other Members to extend the area of data collection and better understand Antarctic toothfish distribution in shelf areas under the ice.

Resource competition often results in mechanisms that ameliorate its effects, typically through the partitioning of resource exploitation either temporally or spatially.  Understanding the spatial and temporal overlap between predators that exploit the same resource then is fundamental to understanding the impacts one predator can have on another.  The fishery for Antarctic krill operates along the west Antarctic Peninsula and the Scotia Sea, and while there are calls for its expansion there is a concern that any increase in catch levels should not result in long-lasting or irreparable damage to the ecosystem.  Considering the fishery as another krill predator then, it follows that understanding how it functionally overlaps with other krill predators such as seals, whales and seabirds is critical.  Similarly, characterizing the competitive interactions between these species is key to disentangling the drivers of functional responses of each species.  We highlight this by collecting at-sea habitat use of adult male Antarctic fur seals which move into the Bransfield Strait and southern Scotia Sea during the austral summer and remain there throughout the winter. We identify considerable spatial and temporal overlap with breeding Chinstrap penguins in the Bransfield Strait at a time when fishing effort is minimal, as well as when effort is at is maximum at the South Orkney Islands. We recommend that this overlap should be considered in understanding the functional response of penguins and suggest that male AFS could be a useful monitoring taxon given its lack of post-breeding spatial constraint, its numerical abundance and the relative ease by which data could be collected. 

Norwegian Polar Institute led a cruise to the Kong Håkons VII Hav 28th February -10 April 2019. Our focus area was the ocean south of 65°S east of 0° meridian and 13.5° E (Fig 1) with a focus on Astrid ridge. Our focus was to map and describe the whole ecosystem. During transit, we registered birds, seals and whales systematically and registered krill and fish abundances using echo sounder. At different depths, we ran ROV transects filming and retrieving samples for later species identification. The ROV transects made up the basis of our intensive study areas. Each intensive study area contained in addition to the ROV transect, benthic sampling with appropriate gear, fish and krill trawling, long line and 3-4 CDT station with extensive water sampling for primary production and water chemistry. We rad oceanographic sections across and along the Astrid ridge and at 6,2° E. Due to heavy ice we did get to 69.5° S and depths of about 1100m.

Crossing the deep ocean along 86.1°S we encountered an extensive algae bloom in the deep trench separating Astrid ridge and Maud rise. Associated with the algae bloom we had large concentrations of krill, humpback whales and birds. We found some large concentrations of krill in the pack ice over Astrid ridge with few whales around. Far south on Astrid ridge we encountered some flocks Emperor penguins and Antarctic petrel and Snow petrels were abundant. Of the seals, mainly Crabeater seals was seen and no Weddell seals was spotted.

On Astrid ridge the ROV and bottom trawls found that Echinoderms and shrimps were dominating the transect. Holothuroids were especially abundant and included at least five different species. We set three longlines and got only four tootfish, all at Maud rise. The results from the CTD samples are still being analyzed and no conclusions are made.

Most of the samples are still being processes so any results must be used with caution.

Preliminary results from the International Synoptic Krill Survey in Area 48, 2019, are presented. Of the six vessels that participated in the survey, this report provides methods and preliminary results from four (vessels from the Association of Responsible Krill harvesting companies (ARK), Norway, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom), covering 8719 n. miles of acoustic transects and occupying 149 sampling stations. Acoustic transects and trawling were carried out as per survey procedures developed in 2018, which were based on the methods and procedures used in the CCAMLR 2000 krill acoustic survey. Backscatter from krill were delineated using the 'swarms' method and integrated to produce distribution maps of krill NASC (nautical area scattering coefficient). A preliminary spatial cluster analysis of krill length distributions was undertaken to assist with calculating the acoustic target strength values needed to convert krill NASC to biomass. Further integration of data from all survey vessels and standardisation of analysis procedures are planned to be done in conjunction with the upcoming SG-ASAM meeting in August 2018.

DNA barcoding is a valuable tool for biodiversity studies in the Southern Ocean. It can be combined with other types of systematics data (morphology, other sequence markers) to reassess the taxonomy of complex groups and reliably delineate species. It can serve as a precise identification tool for fisheries, ecology or large scale biodiversity surveys. The rise of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) techniques in the last 15 years has provided exciting new developments in classical barcoding identification projects like fisheries identification control, benthic biodiversity survey and voucher-linked reference datasets creation, but also new possibilities like extension of barcoding to the whole mitogenomes and to communities through metabarcoding biodiversity surveys. We provide here some examples.

We present here the workflow of a large scale barcoding project of the benthic fauna of the French Exclusive Economic Zone of the Kerguelen archipelago. This project is part of a larger project that comparing faunistic assemblages through space and time, and aims to compute habitat models to highlight the structuration of the benthic communities and ecotypes spatial distribution. It will provide assessments and advice for the managers of the Marine Reserve. The barcoding project uses two complementary next-generation sequencing techniques and a multimarker approach to cover the whole taxonomic diversity of benthic macrofauna.

We here summarise the sampling effort and some preliminary findings from the 2019 Scotia Sea krill monitoring survey with the F/V Cabo de Hornos. The vessel was chartered by the Association of Responsible Harvesting Companies (ARK) and manned with personnel from the Institute of Marine Research to carry out a significant part of the 2019 Scotia Sea large scale krill monitoring. All sections of the large scale survey area were visited, and about 80 % of the coverage planned for the vessel was completed, the remaining had to be skipped due to time constraints. Altogether 3928 nautical miles were travelled on transects, and in addition to the acoustic data collection which is presented in a separate manuscript, 68 trawl stations for biological sampling with associated CTD casts were carried out. Marine mammals and birds were monitored continuously during daylight hours, as long as weather permitted. In addition, deployment of four acoustic moorings and 9 replicate measurements on board of krill acoustic sound speed and density contrasts were carried out. Euphausia superba dominated in the trawl samples on the shelf north of the south Shetland islands, in the Bransfield Strait, the shelf north of the South Orkneys and south of South Georgia. Salps, mainly Salpa thompsoni dominated north of the South Shetland shelf, and in the vast oceanic waters between the north and south Scotia ridge. Also amphipods, in particular Themisto gaudichaudii and other krill species dominated in some stations. E. superba length distribution were dominated by two modes, one of very large animals averaging around 55 mm dominating in the South Shetland area, and a second mode between 40 and 50 mm dominant further east, in particular around South Georgia. Small animals were only rarely sampled and almost uniquely on the shelf to the east of the Antarctic Peninsula. Fin whales were the dominating whale species in abundance, followed by humpback whales.

CCAMLR has defined Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VME) detection thresholds based on the benthos bycatch monitoring. When these thresholds are reached during a single longline fishing operation, the data are reported to the Secretariat to inform the CCAMLR about the potential presence of VME to be protected. Management decisions are triggered out according to various levels. Important catches of sea pens (Pennatulacea, NTW, VME bioindicator) in the 58.4.4b sector have been reported during the CCAMLR SAM Working Group 2018. However, despite the important level of the catches, no VME detection threshold triggering out the establishment of an immediate fishing exclusion zone have been reached. Here, we present the preliminary results and some discussion elements of a study centered on the case of the sea pens, and based on the data collected in the 58.4.4b sector. The results may indicate that (1) detection thresholds may be defined considering the taxa of the VME bioindicators, (2) the detection probability is both linked to the weight/size ratio of the organisms and to the ecology of the taxa.