Scientists in Hobart are starting small in their bid to discover theanswers to one of the world's biggest problems: they are researchingkrill in the hope of finding out what impact climate change may behaving in the Southern Ocean.The shrimp-like krill is one of the smallest animals in the Antarctic,but Dr Andrew Constable from the Australian Antarctic Division says itcould help unlock some of the secrets of one of the world's most complexecosystems."Krill is the last untapped marine fishery in the world and it's reallyimportant because krill also forms the foundation of the Antarcticfoodwork," Dr Constable said.Scientists expect that climate change will impact on the Antarcticmarine ecosystem; a reduction in sea ice is one anticipated outcome."Krill and its population, it's very dependent on sea ice and theproductivity of the system and we know that if sea ice changes the krillpopulation is likely to change," Dr Constable said.Krill is also harvested for aquaculture feed and to a smaller extent forhuman consumption."If you get a very, very large krill fishery there, it obviously has achance of impacting on all the other elements of the Antarcticecosystem," said Steve Nichols, who's also from the Australia AntarcticDivision."So it's really important that any fishery that occurs there, occurs ina very regulated fashion."Researchers are particularly interested in how krill harvesting isimpacting on the recovery of whale species."Whales like to go to the ice edge to feed, that's where you find thekrill aggregations," Dr Constable said."And if the fisheries are also fishing in the same locations then it isvery clear that the fisheries could have an impact on the recovery ofthe great whales."Dr Constable is this year's recipient of an international award, theprestigious Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation.The $150,000 prize will enable him to continue his research for anotherthree years.
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