Krill and the Antarctic : finding the balance ...
The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) has a mandate to manage Southern Ocean resources using an ecosystem approach. In accordance with this, ecosystem models of the South Orkneys/South Georgia region (FAO Subareas 48.2 and 48.3, respectively) were construc...
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| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
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University of British Columbia
2009
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| Online Access: | https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0074873 https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0074873 |
| Summary: | The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) has a mandate to manage Southern Ocean resources using an ecosystem approach. In accordance with this, ecosystem models of the South Orkneys/South Georgia region (FAO Subareas 48.2 and 48.3, respectively) were constructed using the modelling software Ecopath with Ecosim. A model representing the region in the 1990s was used to assess the possible effects that an increased fishery for krill (Euphausia superbd) might have on the ecosystem. The model predicted that the expanded fishery could cause small declines in the biomass of several top predators (<10%), such as Antarctic fur seals and baleen whales, and that bycatch in the krill trawl fishery could reduce some fish populations by almost 35%. Incorporating the natural annual variation in krill biomass into the model showed that predator populations could be negatively affected by years of low krill abundance, which would be further exacerbated by an increased krill ... |
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