CCAMLR

In 2016 the Commission adopted Conservation Measure (CM) 91-05, establishing the Ross Sea region Marine Protected Area (RSRMPA). Annex B of this CM specifies the RSRMPA specific objectives and the Management Plan. In addition, Annex C specifies the Priority elements for Scientific Research and Monitoring, including research and monitoring priorities, and research and monitoring questions that should be addressed.

We recall the objectives of the RSRMPA and the research questions for research and monitoring for the RSRMPA. This paper updates the research and monitoring activities for New Zealand and Italy, as encouraged by CM 91-05 paragraph 16(i)–(ii), noting that other Members are also undertaking relevant research.

New Zealand and Italy recommend that Members continue to share data and research outcomes relevant to the objectives of the RSRMPA.

In response to a request from the Commission and Scientific Committee, the Secretariat worked intersessionally and communicated with Members to develop draft technical guidelines to assist vessels which encounter unidentified fishing gear in the Convention Area. The work is summarised, and the draft guidelines, which were published to the CCAMLR e-group in 2019.

In accordance with CM 10-10, paragraph 2(i), and the procedure detailed in COMM CIRC 19/76, the Secretariat has prepared the Summary CCAMLR Compliance Report (Summary Report) based on the Draft CCAMLR Compliance Reports (Draft reports), responses received from Contracting Parties, and the suggested preliminary compliance status. The Draft reports identified 16 potential conservation measure compliance issues in relation to 7 conservation measures affecting 6 Contracting Parties in the period 1 August 2018 to 31 July 2019 (the compliance reporting period). The Secretariat circulated Draft reports on 7 August 2019 and the Summary Report containing Contracting Party responses is Annex 1 to this paper.

The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report is a Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC). The report compiles scientific evidence to make clear the devastating impacts that climate change are having on the oceans and polar regions. In this paper, ASOC provides a short overview of some of the report’s key findings and recommends that CCAMLR take collective responsibility to address the growing environmental crises of climate change and biodiversity loss with decisive action including:

1. Complete the planned representative system of MPAs as an immediate response, including areas designed to enhance climate resilience.
2. Complete and agree to a climate change response plan which includes climate change information when setting catch limits and approving conservation measures and implication statements in all working papers and fisheries reports.
3. Commit to research on climate-related changes to the Antarctic ecosystem, including ocean heat uptake, ocean acidification, and ecosystem and species changes, and incorporate this information into precautionary conservation measures.

The objective of the MESOPP project ‘Mesopelagic Southern Ocean Prey and Predators' is to :

1. Make an inventory of science challenges, stakes and existing policies and develop tools to federate and structure the community;
2. Start to organise the related marine ecosystem community between the EU and Australia through two implementation actions
3. Propose a R&D roadmap to support a large international cooperation on marine ecosystems based on an e-infrastructure, adding additional countries such as USA, New Zealand, Canada (in the Frame of the Galway statement), Brazil and all active countries already involved in large organisations such as IMBER, CCAMLR or IMOS.

MESOPP will focus on the enhancement of collaborations by eliminating various obstacles in establishing a common methodology and a connected network of databases of acoustic data for the estimation of micronekton biomass and validation of models. It will also contribute to a better predictive understanding of the SO based on furthering the knowledge base on key functional groups of micronekton and processes which determine ecosystem dynamics from physics to large oceanic predators.

The delegations of Argentina, Australia, European Union, Norway, Uruguay and the United States propose to amend CCAMLR Conservation Measure 32-18 to prohibit shark finning and require that all fins of any shark that cannot be released alive remain naturally attached through the point of first landing. This is consistent with United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolutions on sustainable fisheries adopted annually since 2007 (62/177, 63/112, 64/72, 65/38, 66/68, 67/79, 68/71, 69/109, 70/75, 71/123, 72/72, and 73/125).