her food sources under conditions of extended periods of sea ice cover. These findings will be a substantial contribution to answer much broader questions such as how did communities adapt to the particular conditions beneath the Larsen Ice Shelves and how do they differ from "normal" areas. A catch with the Agassiz trawl was bountiful and also provided sponges, the most distinct group of animals living on the seafloor in the shelf ecosystem. As the first working groups are supplied with organisms scientific work is running.

Fish survey

On the way to the Antartic Peninsula where the major scientific work will be running Polarstern carried out more than 75 thirty-minute trawls. Length measurements, weight and gender determination, stomach content analyses and the removal of tiny ear bones for age structure analyses are done on board. The sum of the scientific data will provide a comprehensive indication of the fish population dynamics since the end of Antarctic commercial fishing in 1990. The bottom fish survey conducted during ANT XXIII/8 is the seventh survey in a row in the southern Scotia Arc region. The survey contributes to the 'Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources' (CCAMLR). This organization is responsible for the conservation and rational use of all Antarctic marine resources with the exception of cetaceans. Germany focuses its CCAMLR-related research on the state of fish and krill stocks in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean. This research is conducted by the Seafisheries Institute of the Federal Research Centre for Fisheries in Hamburg on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Nutrition, Agriculture and Consumer's Protection in cooperation with foreign institutions, such as the Southwest Fisheries Science Centre of the National Marine Fisheries Service in La Jolla, USA.

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Contact: Dr. Angelika Dummermuth
Angelika.Dummermuth@awi.de
49-471-483-11742
Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research
22-Dec-2006

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