Climate change is predicted to affect marine fisheries, but these effects are usually considered to be indirect, for example through distributional changes in fish populations (Perry, Low, Ellis & Reynolds 2005), changes in marine biodiversity (Cheung, Lam, Sarmiento, Kearney, Watson & Pauly 2009) or changes in oceanic productivity (Sharp 2003). This article shows that in Antarctic waters, there is already evidence of direct effects of the changing physical environment – the duration of sea ice cover – on the seasonal behaviour of the region's largest fishery, that for Antarctic krill, Euphausia superba (Kock, Reid,Croxall & Nicol 2007). Declining sea ice cover in the main krill fishing grounds has resulted in greater accessibility of krill stocks to the fishing fleets, particularly during winter, and this change in fishing behaviour will need careful management in an era of rapid ecological change.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Research Division:	Earth Sciences
Research Group:	Oceanography
Research Field:	Biological oceanography
Objective Division:	Environmental Management
Objective Group:	Management of Antarctic and Southern Ocean environments
Objective Field:	Antarctic and Southern Ocean oceanic processes
UTAS Author:	Kawaguchi, S (Dr So Kawaguchi)
UTAS Author:	Nicol, S (Dr Stephen Nicol)
UTAS Author:	Press, AJ (Dr Tony Press)
ID Code:	71385
Year Published:	2009
Web of Science® Times Cited:	28
Deposited By:	Research Division
Deposited On:	2011-07-15
Last Modified:	2012-02-20
Downloads:	0