Abstract
The Antarctic krill ( Euphausia superba ) fishery is primarily concentrated around the major island groups and shelf‐break regions of the West Antarctic Peninsula and South Orkney Islands. Climate‐induced sea ice retreat has recently expanded fishing access to previously inaccessible areas, thereby altering spatial and temporal patterns of fishing activity. Because krill distribution and aggregability strongly influence where vessels operate, it is critical to identify specific areas that are repeatedly used as fishing grounds. In this study, we analyzed haul‐by‐haul fishing data from the Chilean vessel Antarctic Endeavour 2017–2024 to identify spatial and temporal clusters of fishing activity. Following the concept of fishing opportunities (FOs), we used hierarchical agglomerative clustering to delineate recurrent, sporadic, and unusual FOs. This procedure resulted in 27 FOs, seven of which were used consistently across years and therefore considered recurrent fishing, comprising 951 hauls. Multivariate correspondence analysis revealed distinct groupings of bycatch species composition across FOs. Furthermore, variations in the proportion of gravid females and juveniles helped identify areas relevant to krill reproduction and recruitment. Catch‐per‐unit effort (catch rate) trends across years indicated stable or declining yields, with evidence of a significant local declining trend in some recurrent FOs. These findings highlight the importance of spatially explicit fishery analyses of fishing behavior and support the development of fine‐scale management strategies for Antarctic krill fisheries under rapidly changing environmental conditions.