The main objective of the Survey was to update estimates of krill pre-exploitation biomass (B₀).

The Survey concentrated its efforts in the west Atlantic in Subareas 48.1, 48.2, 48.3 and 48.4 with four research vessels from Japan, Russia, the UK and the USA participating.

Experts from a number of other CCAMLR countries also participated.

The information collected by the Survey was used in simulation models to update estimates of krill sustainable yield in Area 48. These estimates of yield were then used to set precautionary catch limits for the krill fisheries in that region (SC-CAMLR-XIX, paragraphs 5.1 to 5.9; Annex 4, paragraphs 2.84 to 2.107 and Appendix G).

Along with previous precautionary catch limits* for krill, the new limits remain the first such measures ever developed by an international fisheries management organisation.

Some results from the CCAMLR-2000 Survey were published in a special issue of Deep Sea Research (Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography, Volume 51, Issues 12–13, June 2004). Please see the Elsevier Science Direct website at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science for the article.

*As applied by CCAMLR, precautionary catch limits set levels of catch which are considered low enough not to compromise future sustainability of the targeted stocks. They allow some level of fishing so as to provide essential information to be used in assessment of stock yield and in ascertaining the properties of the fishery. CCAMLR Conservation Measure 51-01 is a good example of such a measure and it sets an overall precautionary catch limit for krill in Area 48 as well as a “trigger level” which will be used to subdivide the overall limit into smaller areas in anticipation of a rapid expansion of the fishery.