Bouvet Island additional quotas were awarded from 2008 for a total catch of . There is a controversy as to whether the fisheries are sustainable, particularly in relation to krill being important food for whales. In 2009, Norway filed with the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf to extend the outer limit of the continental shelf past surrounding the island. The "Hanse Explorer" expedition ship visited Bouvet Island on 20 and 21 February 2012 as part of "Expédition pour le Futur". The expedition's goal was to land and summit the highest point on the island. The first four climbers
South American–Antarctic Ridge South American–Antarctic Ridge The South American–Antarctic Ridge (SAAR or AAR) is the tectonic spreading center between the South American Plate and the Antarctic Plate. It runs along the sea-floor from the Bouvet Triple Junction in the South Atlantic Ocean south-westward to a major transform fault boundary east of the South Sandwich Islands. Near the Bouvet Triple Junction the spreading half rate is , which is slow, and the SAAR has the rough topography characteristic of slow-spreading ridges. The boundary between the South American and Antarctic plates can be divided into three parts of which the SAAR forms the eastern third: