The shelf regions around South Georgia and the South Orkney Islands are highly productive, supporting large colonies of higher predators, and with a history of commercial exploitation. Many of the key oceanographic and ecological processes determining the operation of these marine ecosystems operate over small spatial scales of <10 km. Understanding the drivers of variability in such processes requires the development of high-resolution ocean models. Here we describe the development of regional models for the South Georgia and South Orkney Islands shelves and surrounding regions, and present the results of preliminary analyses. The models are regional applications of NEMO with a ~3 km horizontal resolution, and include key physical processes of relevance to the local ecosystems including tides, atmospheric forcing from reanalysis, glacial melt, and with sea ice processes incorporated using LIM3. The models have been used to generate 20-year hindcast time series of oceanographic flows and water mass properties. This valuable resource is providing the underlying physical environment for detailed examinations of the controls on the distribution of krill and fish around the islands, their interactions with predators and availability to fisheries. Insight from such studies will help inform WG-EMM activities aimed at developing spatial and feedback management procedures.

• We provide a method of analysing penguin tracking data to identify marine IBAs, based on pre-existing approaches but revised according to the specific ecology of Pygoscelis penguin species;

• Key improvements to the pre-existing approach include 1) refining track interpolation methods, and 2) revision of parameters for the kernel analysis (the smoothing factor and the utilization distribution);

• We applied the revised method to 24 datasets of tracking data (three species, seven colonies and three different breeding stages – incubation, brood and crèche);

• We compared the results of the marine IBA protocol with the results of habitat models, developed with data collected at other colonies;

• We show, for the first time, that maps of predicted distributions based on habitat suitability models can be used with a high degree of confidence to identify marine IBAs for penguins;

• The results reported here provide a new method for the designation of a network of marine IBAs in Antarctic waters for penguins, based on tracking data (when available) and habitat modelling, which can contribute to an evidence-based, precautionary, management framework for krill fisheries.

SO-AntEco was a British Antarctic Survey (BAS) led expedition undertaken in conjunction with an international team of scientists from the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research (SCAR) AntEco research programme. The team included participants from nine different countries and 15 institutes. The expedition took place on board the BAS research ship RRS James Clark Ross in early 2016. The focus of the cruise was to contribute towards a better understanding of selected benthic habitats around the South Orkney Islands, and the biodiversity within those habitats, in relation to the geomorphic zones both inside and outside the South Orkney Islands Southern Shelf (SOISS) Marine Protected Area (MPA). This addresses a key objective set out by the draft SOISS MPA Research and Monitoring Plan (SC-CAMLR, 2014).

The benthic assemblages of the SOISS MPA region were found to be strongly correlated with substrate, where hard substrates hosted a greater number of individuals, taxa and biomass with a dominance of filter feeding Vulnerable Marine Ecosystem (VME) taxa, and soft sediments were dominated mostly by deposit feeders. Substantial differences in the abundance of VME taxa were found between two sampling gears used (shallow underwater camera system and Agassiz trawl). We conclude that camera systems may be more suitable for VME assessments than the Agassiz trawl, but where possible, trawling is advisable for collecting all faunal types and for higher taxonomic resolution. The designation of VME locations or MPAs based purely on geomorphic classification is not advisable, due to small scale variation in substrate and other local physical influences; however, the utility of such classifications may be improved with the inclusion of additional environmental factors e.g. substrate type.

The results from this study will contribute to an updated MPA Report for the South Orkney Islands, as well as the SOISS MPA review scheduled in 2019. In addition, it makes an important contribution to the understanding of benthic habitats in Domain 1, which will be relevant for further spatial planning in this region.

We present a preliminary analysis to estimate the consumption of prey by Adélie penguins Pygoscelis adeliae in Subareas 48.1 and 48.2 during the period when penguins are constrained by breeding. We parameterised our analysis using data from the population of Adélie penguins breeding at Signy Island, South Orkneys. We show that the highest levels of consumption occur during the crèche and pre-moult period, consistent with similar studies of Adélie penguins breeding in East Antarctica. On the basis of variable breeding success and the proportion of krill and fish in their diet, we estimate that the population of Adélie penguins at Signy Island consumes 4,600 t of krill and 696 t of fish during a breeding season. Based on this we estimate Adélie penguins in Subareas 48.1 and 48.2 respectively consume 304,980 and 53,161 t of prey during a single breeding season. Our study builds on previous work using a similar methodology to assess the consumption by macaroni penguins in Subarea 48.3. We report that further analyses will be undertaken for other krill-eating penguin species in Area 48, in particular chinstrap P. antarcticus and gentoo P. papua penguins.

The inter-vessel variability of krill distribution in the catches obtained in the Bransfield Strait (SSMU APBSW and APBSE) in April and May 2014 and 2015 was analyzed. The presence of statistically significant differences in the krill length distributions from  catches obtained by the vessels operating in the fishing grounds with spatio-temporal overlapping is shown. At the same time, significant differences exist both for vessels using the same trawl fishing method and for vessels operating with different fishing methods. The inter-vessel variability of krill length in the catches is more pronounced with respect to the length distribution (content of young and large specimens), and to a lesser extent to discrepancies in the weighted mean length estimates per SSMU by month and vessel.

An analysis of spatio-temporal variability of CPUE indices in the krill fishery in subarea 48.1 by years and small-scale management units, including inter-annual, monthly and inter-vessel variability with account of the fishing method used is presented. Particular attention is paid to the fishery in the Bransfield strait, where the main fishery in Subarea 48.1 is concentrated  The possibility of using the standardized CPUE indices as krill biomass density indices for monitoring the variability of krill biomass in SSMU during the fishing season is discussed. Variability of monthly average standardized CPUE estimates in the Bransfield strait shows that despite intensive fishery the density of krill biomass during the fishing season did not decrease and even often increased there.  The latter is an evidence of krill biomass replacement and supplement during the fishing season due to geostrophic drift, and this also points to unjustified hypothesis on the fishery effect on krill biomass and dependent predators.

Norway is in the process of extending its monitoring efforts in the area around South Orkneys by deploying acoustic moorings in a commercially exploited area. Data gathered from the moorings will be used to parametrise models, in order to gain better understanding of the interaction between ocean physics and behaviour in driving krill biomass variation in the area.

The Antarctic minke whale (Balaenoptera bonaerensis) is the most abundant baleen whale species in the Southern Ocean. Quantitative information on prey consumption of whales is useful to understand their feeding ecology and role in the Antarctic marine ecosystem. The purposes of this study were 1) to investigate the feeding habits of Antarctic minke whales based on information on prey species in stomach contents, and 2) to estimate the amount of prey consumed by whales, accounting for some uncertainties. The analysis is based on the data from whales taken by JARPA (Japanese Whale Research Program under Special Permit in the Antarctic: 1989/90-2004/05) and JARPAII (2005/06-2013/14) in the Indo-Pacific region of the Antarctic (35°E-145°W). Sampling of Antarctic minke whales was conducted in the austral summer seasons, mainly in the months from December to March. The Antarctic minke whales fed mostly on Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) in offshore area, and on ice krill E. crystarollophias in coastal (shallow) area on the continental shelf such as the Ross Sea and Prydz Bay. Daily prey consumption by the whales in each reproductive status group was estimated using an energy-requirement approach. Based on the results obtained by three equations combined and Monte Carlo simulations, the daily prey consumptions per capita of Antarctic minke whales were 207.1kg and 353.3kg for immature and mature males; and 229.3kg and 397.0kg for immature and mature females, respectively. The CVs of the daily prey consumption consumed by whales per capita were in the range 0.35-0.39. Consumption was equivalent to 4.9-6.3 % of body weight. The total per capita prey consumptions during the feeding season were 24.8 and 42.4tons for immature and mature males, 27.5 and 47.6tons for immature and mature females, respectively. Total prey consumptions of krill by Antarctic minke whales during the feeding season (120days) were estimated at 1.5 and 4.6 million tons in Areas IV and V, respectively. It is expected that the output of this study will assist the understanding of the role of the Antarctic minke whale in the ecosystem and development of ecosystem models.

The composition of penguin diet is currently monitored through the A8 CEMP Chick Diet monitoring parameter. The current Standard Method involves stomach lavage to collect the stomach contents of adult birds and sorting the samples to identify prey composition and mass. At WG-EMM-12 it was noted that Australia had stopped collecting penguin diet samples and that alternative, less invasive, procedures were under consideration. Here we discuss results from recent work using the extraction of prey DNA from penguin faecal samples as an alternative, non-invasive procedure. We describe the technique, discuss recent results and outline current thoughts on its advantages and limitations. We also outline a validation study currently underway on samples collected at Signy Island, South Orkneys, to compare the prey DNA from faecal samples and stomach lavage techniques.

Estimating the consumption of prey by higher-order predators is a priority for WG-EMM as an element in CCAMLR’s ecosystem-based approach to management for the krill fishery in the Southern Ocean. Previous assessments of prey consumption for seabirds have focussed on breeders using data recorded at the breeding colonies. However, recent work suggests that the size of the non-breeder component of an Adélie penguin population can be substantial compared with the size of the breeder population. This paper describes the extension and parameterisation of a bio-energetics model developed to estimate prey consumption by breeding Adélie penguins to include estimates of prey consumption for the non-breeder component of an Adélie penguin population. Given an estimate of non-breeder abundance, this development allows consumption to be estimated for the total population.