REPORT of the Online Workshop of the SCAR Krill Expert Group (SKEG), 08-11 March 2024

Organisation committee: SKEG board

Bettina Meyer, So Kawaguchi, Angus Atkinson, Dominik Bahlburg, Kim Bernard, Simeon Hill, Taro Ichii, Dale Machette, Xiuxia Mu, Andrea Piniones, Christian Reiss, Zephyr Sylvester, Yi-Ping Ying, Javier A. Arata, and Steve Parker.

Summary:

The SCAR Krill Expert Group (SKEG) aims to act as a forum to improve the understanding of krill biology and ecology and serve as a link between the scientific krill community and the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), which manages the Antarctic krill fishery. SKEG also provides a platform for research direction, information exchange, and collaboration within the krill community, focusing on early career researchers (ECRs). The 2024 SKEG annual workshop was held virtually over four days, from 08 to 11th March 2024, from 18:00 to 20:00 UTC, with 108 participants from 22 countries, including ECRs. The number of participants provided a sufficient sample size for polling questions to support CCAMLR in further developing the KSH for their revised krill fishery management approach. The workshop aimed to refine the preliminary Krill Stock Hypothesis (KSH) developed during the SKEG workshop in 2023 (Meyer et al. 2023). The refinement focused on the data collection needs to better understand the abundance and distribution of krill life stages and krill flux to support progressing CCAMLR’s revised krill management approach, for which specific polling questions were developed to gather expert opinions. Another focus of the workshop was on how monitoring of the krill-based ecosystem could be enhanced. Polling questions were developed to gather expert opinions on additional krill parameters that should be monitored during fishing operations and which existing predator-derived data are most valuable to inform interannual changes in krill availability. Priority areas for further data collection on krill were identified as the North West Weddell Sea, the Branfield Strait, the South Orkneys, and the South Shetlands, respectively. Penguins, seals and flying seabirds emerged as the most valuable predator groups to monitor to evaluate short and long term changes in krill; however, penguins and whales were considered relevant for future monitoring efforts to assess krill availability. The current document serves as a record of the workshop and a report to including a series of recommendations to CCAMLR’s working group on Ecosystem Monitoring and Management (WG-EMM), tasked with developing scientific advice on krill fishery management.

doi: 10.5281/zenodo.12571138