A candidate process for managing the krill fishery at a local scale for krill predators, particularly in the early phases of the development of the krill fishery

In this paper, we develop a candidate management system for the krill fishery suitable for achieving objectives for krill and its predators in local areas. We also indicate how this management system can be made operational in the early phases of a fishery in a local area, which can then be enhanced as the fishery develops, including testing future management procedures and in adapting them to a changing ecosystem. A local area decision rule is proposed for using krill biomass density and recruitment strength in a given year to determine an adjustment of the long-term annual catch for the area in the following year. This decision rule is designed to keep the probabilities of low reproductive performance by predators at acceptable levels in the long term. The process for undertaking the assessment and its application is demonstrated.