The krill distribution in waters around the South Shetland Islands: Preliminary results from an acoustic survey conducted by a Chinese krill fishing vessel in December 2013

Commercial fishing vessel has been recognized as important platform to collect useful data for the estimation of krill stock and its management. In December 2013, a trial acoustic survey was conducted by the Chinese krill fishing vessel ‘FURONGHAI' in waters around the South Shetland Islands. Krill was found in most part of the survey area. The mean Sv of krill swarm tend to be higher in inshore waters in the north of the islands; however, no such tendency was observed in the Bransfield strait. The majority of the krill swarms were found in the upper 100 m with a thickness less than 30 m. With this experience, more scientific data may be collected by the Chinese krill fishing vessels in the coming fishing seasons.