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
Bouvet Island eared seal was protected on and around the island in 1929 and in 1935 all seals around the island were protected. In 1955, the South African frigate "Transvaal" visited the island. Nyrøysa, a rock-strewn ice-free area, the largest such on Bouvet, was created sometime between 1955 and 1958, probably by a landslide. In 1964 the island was visited by the British naval ship HMS "Protector". On 17 December 1971, the entire island and its territorial waters were protected as a nature reserve. A scientific landing was made in 1978, during which the underground temperature was measured to be . In