Summary
Antarctic krill are a fundamental component of Southern Ocean ecosystems and perturbations to krill populations have ramifications for the entire ecosystem. Krill are fished across the Southern Ocean and sustainable management of this fishery is a high priority for the Australian Government. A new Australian Antarctic Science project - Managing Antarctic Krill and Conserving the Krill-based Ecosystems (KaKE) – has been developed to design, develop and implement an integrated and comprehensive interdisciplinary program of scientific research and monitoring in East Antarctica that will provide new and important insights into krill biology and the Southern Ocean's krill-based ecosystem. This decade-long project will include annual interdisciplinary field surveys on RSV Nuyina, Australia's new icebreaker, as well as annual deployments of moored platforms to support autonomous echosounders and passive acoustics. The project will develop new capabilities for krill predator research including: new molecular methods to detect predators and determine their diet; the use of long and short-range uncrewed aerial vehicles for predator surveys, collection of whale biopsies and whale tagging; and the deployment of newly developed systems for the autonomous visual and infrared detection of whales. These activities will culminate in outputs to inform the ecosystem-based sustainable management of the East Antarctic krill fishery and quantify the current and projected impacts of climate change. The project welcomes expressions of interest from potential collaborators.