The First Call for Proposal
The Antarctic Wildlife Research Fund (AWR) issued its first call for proposals on March 16, 2015, inviting applications from scientific researchers who can aid in determining the impact of the krill fishing industry on the Antarctic marine ecosystem. Such research will serve to ensure ecosystem protection, while improving the management basis for the fishery.
In september 2015, grants were awarded to three groups of researchers by the Antarctic Wildlife Research Fund (AWR)
A long term ecological study on the foraging behavior of humpback whales around the Antarctic Peninsula, focusing on how critical foraging areas relate to historic catches of krill in the region. The AWR Board awarded US $84,530 towards the research by Dr. Ari S. Friedlaender (Oregon State University) and Dr. David W. Johnston (Duke University).
A research project that will explore how brush tail penguins (Adelie, chinstrap and gentoo) are key consumers of krill that rely on predictable aggregations of the small crustacean in order to successfully raise and fledge chicks during their austral-summer breeding seasons. This project will receive a US $80,000 grant from AWR, and will beled by Dr. Andrew Lowther, of the Norwegian Polar Institute, in cooperation with Dr. Phil Trathan and Dr. Norman Ratcliffe (British Antarctic Survey) and Dr. Kit Kovacs and Dr. Christian Lydersen (Norwegian Polar Institute).
A research project that will investigate one of the fundamental limitations to understanding Antarctic krill ecology on a global scale: the inability to directly age them. Dr. Christian Reiss, of the US National Marine Fisheries Service, Dr. Raouf Kilada, of the University of New Brunswick and Dr. So Kawaguchi of the Australian Antarctic Division will conduct the study. The AWR Board awarded the project a research grant of US $48,200.
The date and criteria for AWR's next call for proposals, will be made public on this website.
Please contact us at science@antarcticfund.org if you have any questions.