Acoustic surveys by Chinese krill fishing vessels in support of conservation of the Antarctic krill in Subarea 48.1

Fishing vessels have become increasingly important for providing scientific data for the monitoring and management of Antarctic krill. Since the 2013/14 fishing season, Chinese fishing vessels have been conducting regular acoustic surveys using scientific echo-sounders in Subarea 48.1. Six summer surveys were conducted in the Bransfield Strait and the west of the South Shetland Islands strata from 2013 to 2020. Over the past few years, the annual effort was continued with surveys conducted later in the fishing season to increase our understanding on the stock status in autumn and winter, and the survey area was also extended gradually to cover the Gerlache Strait, the Joinville Islands and the Elephant Island strata. These surveys provided important information on the dynamics of the krill stock in Subarea 48.1, and in particularly the inter-annual variability of krill biomass and knowledge on krill in the winter season and data-limited regions. As the implementation of the current CCAMLR Revised Krill Management Approach (RKMA) may require commensurate monitoring of the krill stock, the implementation of these Chinese fishing vessel surveys and its general outcomes were summarized. It is hoped that it may provide some useful information to aid the overall design of the concerted CCAMLR monitoring efforts for the successful implementation of the RKMA.