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Annual migrations of pelagic fish stocks into a krill hotspot

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Document Number:
WG-EMM-2019/33
Author(s):
T. Klevjer
Submitted By:
Dr Georg Skaret (Norway)
Approved By:
Dr Odd Aksel Bergstad (Norway)
Abstract

We report here on the existence of seasonal fish migrations into a krill hotspot, utilized both by central place foragers and the industry. We do not have trawl samples overlapping with the acoustic data, but the behaviour displayed suggests that the fish are planktivorous. Furthermore, the acoustic data suggest that they may form high density schools during daytime, that could not be separated from krill on a single frequency. Trawl catches in the area during 2019 gave high densities of mackerel icefish, so this species is a likely candidate, if these targets are swimbladderless notothenoids, their frequency response may be similar to that of krill at the commonly used frequencies of 38 and 120 kHz.