Acoustic Krill Data
Antarctic krill is a key species in the Southern Ocean ecosystem and among the largest single species stocks of the planet. It is fished with low bycatch and fuel consumption, to provide sustainable aquaculture feed and dietary supplements. Acoustic data gathered by the fishing vessels can be used to improve management of the fishery and ensure sustainable catches.
The World Economic Forum’s coverage of this dataset
How acoustic data can make krill fishing more sustainable
The krill fishery is regulated by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), that instructs the fishing industry on where and how much krill they can take. Currently the quotas are based on historical catch limits that are divided into regional units, but efforts are underway to establish a feedback management system. Such a system would adjust quotas throughout the fishing season depending on regional krill availability, and thus better reflect the dynamic marine environment.
However, data on krill abundance is rare and traditionally collected during costly scientific surveys using echosounders and net sampling. This data gap can be filled by an industry - science cooperation. An increasing number of krill fishing vessels are collecting high quality echosounder data that can be used to study krill distribution and behavior. An example of such a company is Aker Biomarine ASA that operates four vessels in the Southern Ocean and openly shares their acoustic data. Their aim is to accelerate the development of a sustainable feedback management system and enable research on krill ecology.
About the dataset
This dataset is a compilation of 10 years of Aker Biomarine fishing missions to the Southern Ocean. A common problem with sharing acoustic data is that it takes up a lot of space. Storing it in the cloud on HUB Ocean’s Ocean Data Platform provides a unique opportunity for this data to find an international home and we welcome similar datasets to fuse with what we already share.
How to access the data
There are several ways you can work with the data, including connecting via API or via Ocean Data Platform workspace.
