Call for Proposals to promote Research on the Antarctic Ecosystem

The Antarctic Wildlife Research Fund (AWR) facilitates and promotes research on the Antarctic ecosystem. It was created to ensure a resilient Antarctica, in which the management of all natural resources must rely on precaution and thorough and upto-date knowledge.

The aims of the AWR have therefore been developed to be consistent with the work of CCAMLR.

It is envisaged that any research and monitoring work supported by the AWR will build, incrementally, towards a new management approach for the krill fishery. Funded work should therefore support, rather than replace, the work of CCAMLR. In developing research proposals for consideration by the AWR, it is hoped that projects will be collaborative in nature, including between scientists from different CCAMLR Members, between scientists and krill fishing companies and between government and non-governmental scientists.

Each grant will be for a specific piece of work, and no long-term commitment to any individual or group should be assumed. The AWR is competitive and only proposals that are judged to provide excellent science and to fit the aims of the fund will be considered. Applicants should ensure that their proposals are cost effective, and cost-sharing is encouraged when possible. Where appropriate, the track record of project proponents will be taken into consideration. The inclusion of students or early career scientists is encouraged. All proposals should be presented on the official project application form.

In supporting the development of a feedback management approach for the krill fishery, the AWR wishes to fund work that will increase understanding about how the Antarctic marine ecosystem operates and how it might be characterised as a set of indicators for use by managers. Such work might involve desk or field studies to fill critical knowledge gaps or provide early warning signals about future ecological change.

As such, AWR encourages the proponents to have a prior discussion and advice from CCAMLR scientists on how the new knowledge generated from the proposed project can best inform and be utilized in CCAMLR’s ecosystem management framework. It is important that the project has clear scope for pathways to impact when developing any project proposal.

Funding Information

• For the current round of funding ca USD $150,000 is available. It is unlikely that all of this amount will be awarded to a single project, though this may be possible for a particularly compelling proposal. Successful proposals might generally expect to receive in the order of USD $25,000 to USD $90,000.

Preferred Research Projects for 10th Call

• Krill biology and ecology to inform krill fishery management:
  • Studies into krill life history parameters such as growth, recruitment, reproduction, as well as understanding the effects of environmental drivers on krill biology are the key to informing parameterisation of stock assessment models to set precautionary catch limits for krill fishery.
  • Information on seasonal distribution and migration for various krill life stages, and connectivity of krill population between regions, and its dynamics is important for deciding upon the best spatial and temporal scale for the management, to develop a stock hypothesis that provides understanding dynamics of population and different contributions of recruitment from adjacent areas (e.g. from Weddell Sea and Bellingshausen Sea contributions to the Antarctic Peninsula).
• Krill-Predator-Fishery Interaction:
  • Studies into the structure and characteristics of krill swarms and foraging behaviour of different krill predators (e.g. penguins, flying seabirds, seals and whales) and of the behaviour of the commercial krill fishery will facilitate understanding about the types of krill swarms preferred by predators and the fishery alike. Moreover, analyses of the impacts of predators and fishing operations on the structure (including shape, density, size, and depth) of krill swarms will enhance understanding about krill availability to predators. This information will potentially help inform fishing strategies that minimise impacts on krill availability to predators at local scales.
• Supporting ‘risk assessment’ ‘spatial overlap analysis’ (previously known as risk assessment) framework for krill fishery management:
  • The commercial krill fishery is known to overlap in both space and time with natural krill predators, thereby potentially increasing the risk of disproportionate impacts on some predators. As such, CCAMLR has adopted a risk-based approach to mitigate the risk of interactions between the fishery and krill predators. CCAMLR plans to use this risk-based approach to distribute the krill interim catch limit in Subareas 48.1, 48.2, 48.3, and 48.4. Projects towards developing and enhancing data layers, particularly for winter seasons, and to further the risk assessment approach, will directly be relevant to progressing current CCAMLR’s krill workplan.
• Cutting edge science to monitor krill for fishery management:
  • Developing and enhancing capability and utility of newly available acoustic data through advanced technologies collected from fishing vessels, autonomous remotely operated underwater vehicles or from fixed mooring buoys will likely be useful in providing information about intra- and inter-annual changes in krill distribution and abundance. This would be particularly important in those areas preferred by the fishery.
  • Other novel or exciting projects, or relevant projects that take advantage of logistical assets of already funded projects, may be considered where they match closely with the aims of the AWR. Such projects should seek to inform risk assessment and the development of feedback management approaches.

For more information, visit Antarctic Wildlife Research Fund (AWR).