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Southern Ocean Research Expedition Goes Full Steam Ahead Despite Pandemic
Important krill research will be the focus of a team of scientists heading to East Antarctica on the research vessel Investigator.
CSIRO MNF
A team of 20 scientists from the Australian Antarctic Program left Hobart, Tasmania, today to spend two months working in the Southern Ocean off East Antarctica aboard the research vessel Investigator one of the few research missions over the past year that haven’t been canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Their focus? Antarctic krill, which are the largest krill species globally. That puts them at the center of the Antarctic food web and makes them key players in the fight against climate change. But myriad stressors threaten krill, from warming waters and associated ocean acidification to concentrated industrial fishing in coastal areas in the Antarctic Peninsula fishing that is harming krill predators, including p
Scientists test the waters for sustainable krill fishery in the Antarctic
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An entourage of 20 scientists are set to embark on a two-month expedition in Antarctica to ensure the sustainable development of a krill fishery in the region
The expedition aims to provide enough research to determine a krill catch limit for commercial fishing in a region that has not been fished for 25 years
To do this, the Research Vessel Investigator will depart from Hobart laden with new equipment to measure krill biomass at depths of up to 1500 metres
The findings will then be assessed by the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, who advocate for sustainable krill catching
Australian Antarctic Division
Australian Antarctic Program scientists will use a range of novel technologies to measure krill, during a ground-breaking voyage to the Southern Ocean that departs tomorrow.
Over the next two months the team on Research Vessel (RV) Investigator, operated by Australia’s science agency CSIRO, will use specially designed camera technologies, for the first time, to study krill and their environment; along with acoustics, trawls, predator observations, oceanography and genetics.
Voyage Chief Scientist, Dr So Kawaguchi, from the Australian Antarctic Division, said the team would determine how much krill (their ‘biomass’) live in waters off Mawson research station in East Antarctica, to ensure the sustainable development of a krill fishery in the region.
Australia sends groundbreaking new technology to Antarctica as krill fishers eye expansion
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Antarctica has a contentious history of fishing and exploration.
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Australian scientists will today embark on a voyage into the ice for a mission that will test both new technology and our ability to keep Antarctica COVID-free.
Key points:
Commercial krill fishing in Antarctica has returned to a 30-year high
Scientists hope to measure the impact of hauls as fishers eye expansion of their fishing grounds
The crew is taking precautions to ensure no coronavirus is spread during the voyage
The primary aim of the two-month voyage is to measure the amount of krill in Australia s Antarctic region as demand for commercial fishing rises.
Network of marine protected areas ‘could help safeguard Antarctic penguins’ (Heather Lynch/Stony Brook University/PA)
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Breeding Antarctic penguins could be helped by a proposed network of marine protected areas (MPAs), according to new research.
Experts say these areas could safeguard some of the most important areas at sea for the flightless birds.
The findings, published on Penguin Awareness Day, suggest that, if all the MPAs proposed around Antarctica were adopted, the permanent conservation of high-quality areas for penguins would increase by between 49% and 100% depending on the species.