Gerlache Strait
Spatiotemporal overlap of krill fishing with cetaceans and other krill predators.
The project will address the key knowledge gap of krill fishery-predator interactions in a region where catch levels are proposed to increase substantially, and data collection has been acknowledged to be limited. Using passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) devices coupled with observers onboard krill fishing vessels, this project will elucidate the temporal trends in presence and abundance of cetaceans and other krill predators throughout the year, but especially though the late autumn and winter in the Gerlache Strait coinciding with the period that the fishery tends to move into the region. The project will also develop synergies with the krill fishery and the tourist industry to create a means by which management-useful levels of data can be collected throughout the foreseeable future in a cost-effective and predictable manner.
The project is funded by Antarctic Wildlife Research Fund (AWR) – project no 23/2023. The project started 1st October 2023 and will continue until 31st July 2026.