Commitment to carry on krill acoustic transects remains strong, despite a poor season

COVID-19 continued impacting fishing operations during 2021

Krill fishery operations were far from “normal” during the 2020/21 season. With COVID still grounding most international flights and imposing stringent measures at ports, the fishing season began with several complications and delays, resulting in half the fleet not arriving at their fishing grounds until the end of the summer. In addition, the absence of fishable aggregations of krill around South Georgia during winter prompted half the fleet to have a shorter season, with the remainder of the fleet venturing south, off the north coast of the South Orkney Islands, although with slower returns.

Despite this gloomy scenario, ARK members continue delivering acoustic data in support of the new krill management framework at all subareas fished. Fishing vessels collected data along the long-term AMLR grid at Subarea 48.1 and conducted repeated transects at selected locations. Sadly, the long-term survey at Subarea 48.2 was cancelled due to travel restrictions this season, but acoustic transects were still conducted twice along the main fishing ground off the NW South Orkney Islands. Finally, transects at the East and West “Core Box” off South Georgia Islands were performed twice during winter, despite not having catches there this season. Despite the difficulties, ARK members delivered approximately +12 days and +4,200 km worth of acoustic data on krill during the 2021 season.