WG-ASAM-2025

This paper presents recent developments regarding the CCAMLR Acoustic Data Repository, including feedback from Members' testing of the Acoustic Survey Metadata Form, along with updates to the Acoustic Data Viewer and the Krill Biomass Estimates private GitHub repository.

Antarctica and the Southern Ocean are among the least studied areas on Earth, despite their significance for global climate, sea level, and biodiversity, which includes a large number of endemic species, and consequently, for humanity. Feedback mechanisms and tipping points linked to climate change, changes in biodiversity, and potentially increasing pollution necessitate Read More
Submitted By:
Professor Bettina Meyer (Germany)

Approved By:
Professor Bettina Meyer (Germany)

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This report provides the first acoustic estimate of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) biomass within the Ross Sea Region Marine Protected Area’s Krill Research Zone (KRZ). We compared two-frequency (38 and 120 kHz) and three-frequency (38, 120, and 200 kHz) acoustic methods to assess krill distribution and Read More
Submitted By:
Dr Hyoung Sul La (Korea, Republic of)

Approved By:
Mr Jeongseok Park (Korea, Republic of)

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In May 2025, an acoustic survey was conducted in the northern half of the Gerlache Strait to estimate the density of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba). Utilizing the supply vessel Antarctic Provider as the data collection platform, the survey Read More
Submitted By:
Dr Bjørn Krafft (Norway)

Approved By:
Dr Bjørn Krafft (Norway)

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In January 2019 a mesoscale acoustic-trawl survey (Area = 251,767.5 km²) was carried out in the East Antarctic to estimate the biomass of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba). The survey was run from the Australian Research Vessel R/V Investigator Read More
Submitted By:
Dr Martin Cox (Australia)

Approved By:
Dr Philippe Ziegler (Australia)

Publication:
N/A

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Environmental monitoring at the South Orkney Islands in the Southern Ocean has been conducted annually since 2011 by the Institute of Marine Research, Norway. Hydro-acoustic and net-derived data are utilized to calculate the biomass of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) and to assess the spatial distribution and Read More
Submitted By:
Dr Bjørn Krafft (Norway)

Approved By:
Dr Bjørn Krafft (Norway)

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Mackerel icefish (Champsocephalus gunnari) is one of the most common and widespread species of Antarctic fish. That is a proposal to conduct a local acoustic-trawl survey of Champsocephalus gunnari in the statistical Subarea 48.2, beginning from the Read More
Submitted By:
Dr Kostiantyn Demianenko (Ukraine)

Approved By:
Dr Kostiantyn Demianenko (Ukraine)

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Autonomous platforms such as moorings with upward looking echosounders are becoming increasingly used to monitor Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) abundance, behaviour and distribution. Such platforms have the advantage of collecting data in areas and seasons inaccessible to traditional ship-based acoustic surveys (such as at depth or beneath the sea Read More
Submitted By:
Dr Abigail Smith (Australia)

Approved By:
Dr Philippe Ziegler (Australia)

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Krill performs diurnal vertical movements (DVM) depending on a range of factors. DVM is often documented in areas and time of season where krill are exposed to a high degree of predation from sight-based airbreathing predators. They reduce the risk of predation by foraging on phytoplankton in the upper water layers during hours of darkness.  Read More
Submitted By:
Dr Guosong Zhang (Norway)

Approved By:
Dr Bjørn Krafft (Norway)

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This document outlines a comprehensive plan for at-sea krill data collection to support the revised Krill Fishery Management Approach (KFMA), focusing on biomass estimation, stock assessment calculation, and the Krill Stock Hypothesis (KSH). It consolidates data requirements across various sampling platforms and proposes updates to existing protocols, especially for observers in the Scientific Read More
Submitted By:
Dr So Kawaguchi (Australia)

Approved By:
Dr Philippe Ziegler (Australia)

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The U. S. Antarctic Marine Living Resources (U. S. AMLR) program deployed two Teledyne Webb Research Slocum G3 gliders, each equipped with a suite of oceanographic sensors and newly designed Nortek Signature100 single beam wide-band compact echosounder (70 kHz to 120 kHz).  We previously reported these krill densities to CCAMLR (EMM2024/53), but noted a large Read More
Submitted By:
Mr Anthony Cossio (United States of America)

Approved By:
Ms Ona Hahs (United States of America)

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Here we highlight a collection of multidisciplinary primary literature papers on the East Antarctic ecosystem and Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) published as a research topic in Frontiers in Marine Science (Kawaguchi et al., 2025).   We summarise this endeavour and demonstrate the ongoing long-term Read More
Submitted By:
Dr Martin Cox (Australia)

Approved By:
Dr Philippe Ziegler (Australia)

Publication:
N/A

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The 2025 SKEG Symposium Report provides an overview of the three-day virtual symposium and the evolving structure of the SCAR Krill Expert Group (SKEG). The group has adopted a Task Force (TF) model to address pressing issues in krill research and to better support CCAMLR’s scientific and management needs. This report summarizes the symposium’s key discussions, research Read More
Submitted By:
Professor Bettina Meyer (Germany)

Approved By:
Professor Bettina Meyer (Germany)

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In February 2025 an acoustic trawl survey was carried out to estimate Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) abundance in the Western Core Box (WCB) survey area to the northwest of South Georgia (in CCAMLR Subarea 48.3). The survey was run from the British Research Vessel the RRS Sir David Attenborough operating a calibrated Simrad EK80 scientific echosounder and an RMT8 net. Acoustic Read More
Submitted By:
Dr Sophie Fielding (United Kingdom)

Approved By:
Dr Martin Collins (United Kingdom)

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The assessment of transport indices and their practical significance require the use of standardized procedures for collecting and processing data from complex surveys, including acoustic, oceanographic and trawl samples.

Proposals on a comprehensive study of krill flux indices by the current are discussed

The Read More
Submitted By:
Dr Svetlana Kasatkina (Russian Federation)

Approved By:
Dr Svetlana Kasatkina (Russian Federation)

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Acoustic surveys for Antarctic krill are typically undertaken from research vessels to assess local and regional biomass. However, the CCAMLR scientific community has been testing and using autonomous platforms to study aspects of krill behaviour, distribution and contribution to ecosystem function in the Southern Ocean and have used them to estimate krill biomass density in some areas. Here Read More
Submitted By:
Dr Tracey Dornan (United Kingdom)

Approved By:
Dr Martin Collins (United Kingdom)

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Since the 2012/13 fishing season, the Chinese krill fishing vessels have been conducting annual krill acoustic survey in Subarea 48.1. During the 2024/25 fishing season, the survey was conducted by the Chinese krill fishing vessel Long Fa from 16 to 29 January 2025, covering the five core candidate management units including SSIW, BS, GS, JOIN and EI strata. During the field Read More
Submitted By:
Dr Xinliang Wang (China)

Approved By:
Dr Xianyong Zhao (China)

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Vertical migrations by marine organisms contribute to carbon export by consumption of surface phytoplankton followed by defecation in the deep ocean. However, biogeochemical models lack observational data, leading to oversimplified representation of carbon cycling by migrating organisms, such as Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba). Using a numerical Read More
Submitted By:
Dr Abigail Smith (Australia)

Approved By:
Dr Philippe Ziegler (Australia)

Publication:
Science, 2025, 387(6732). 10.1126/science.adq5564

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Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) is a key species in the Southern Ocean ecosystem and represents the target species for the largest fishery in the region in terms of catch. Traditional acoustic monitoring of krill is challenged by complex noise removal and semi-automated processing, which can introduce biases in Read More
Submitted By:
Professor Guoping Zhu (China)

Approved By:
Dr Xianyong Zhao (China)

Publication:
Mar Ecol Prog Ser 760:55-69 (2025)

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