CCAMLR

Within the framework of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), the Government of Chile conducts Fishing Inspection Operations to the area of the Convention. For this purpose, it provides the use of the Chilean Navy vessel, the OPV - 83 MARINERO FUENTEALBA. Likewise, the Second Commanders of the Navy vessels participating in the Antarctic Campaign are instructed each year as inspectors of this Agreement.

The Secretariat has revised the layout of the budget to provide further information across more years to enhance decision-making at SCAF and the Commission. It builds on the table layout that was approved by SCAF in 2016. The proposed changes also adopt the table presentation of the equity and special funds.

The Secretariat proposes to develop an up-to-date, accurate, well-presented brochure describing the work of CCAMLR that is accessible for the general public. It would include relevant images and infographics to make the resource visually accessible. The proposal is to develop this brochure and consult on it through an e-group in the 2018/19 intersessional period.

For CCAMLR Commission and Scientific Committee meetings, Roman numerals are used to identify the meetings and all meeting documents. This creates administrative complexity and can cause confusion for readers. The Secretariat proposes that CCAMLR retain the reference to meeting number in all reports and documents, as at present, but replace the roman numerals with Arabic numbers. It also recommends that to avoid working group reports being referenced to both as the reports and as annexes to the Scientific Committee report, they retain a single reference throughout.

Ecuador has requested that the CCAMLR XXXVII consider granting it status as a non-Contracting Party (NCP) cooperating with CCAMLR by participating in the Catch Documentation Scheme (CDS) for Dissostichus spp. Ecuador as made similar requests to CCAMLR-XXXV, and CCAMLR-XXXVI, which have recognised cooperation to date, and resulted in the grant of limited access to the eCDS to Ecuador The Secretariat has prepared this paper to outline the background of Ecuador’s requests to the Commission assist SCIC and the Commission in its consideration this whether the application(s) and supporting information meets the requirements of Conservation Measure (CM) 10-05 and Annex 10-05/C.

This paper summarises information held by the Secretariat in relation to IUU fishing and vessel activity relevant to CCAMLR from October 2017 to August 2018. Details are provided of an attempted landing of toothfish from CCAMLR-IUU listed vessel STS-50, its unauthorised departure from several ports, and combined international efforts leading to seizure of the vessel and prosecution of the Master by Indonesian authorities. Instances of unidentified fishing gear retrieved in the Convention Area are detailed in Table 1. Communication to non-Contracting Parties and responses received are detailed in Table 2. Proposed updates, amendments inclusions and removals to IUU Lists and vessel particulars are explained with recommendations to SCIC and the Commission.

The ICG on Sustainable Finance (ICG-SF) met by correspondence during 2018. It made three proposals: (i) Create a Working Capital Fund, and change the Financial Regulations governing the way that this fund and the General Fund would be managed (CCAMLR-XXXVII/07); (ii) change the structure of the notification fees for new, exploratory and krill fisheries, and increase them annually in line with CPI (inflation) to generate a sustainable finance stream into the future (CCAMLR-XXXVII/08); and (iii) set up a General Capacity Building Fund, funded by voluntary contributions and surpluses in the General Fund, and set up an ICG to establish the terms of reference for this fund during 2019.

At last year’s meeting the Scientific Committee requested that SCAR consider the establishment of a krill expert group to bring together those scientists working on krill and to have a linkage to CCAMLR. Prof. Dr. Bettina Meyer (Germany), on behalf of the Scientific Committee, was tasked to initiate the SCAR Krill Action Group (SKAG) (SC-CAMLR IIIVI Paragraphs 10.9- 10.11).

SCAR Krill Action Group (SKAG) was endorsed by Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) during its Davos Meeting in June. SCAR approved funding of 4700€ for SKAG to be spent for supporting young scientist in their activities for the initial two-year period (2019 and 2020).

The first SKAG planning meeting was held on 16^th July 2018 at British Antarctic Survey following the WG-EMM. The meeting was attended by the members of SKAG executive group and a representative from ICED to discuss and agree on a broad plan for its activities.

The aim of SKAG is to become the major conduit between CCAMLR and the wider krill science community, and provide a forum to guide research directions, promote collaboration, improve understanding of krill biology and ecology, and assist in providing critical scientific information relevant to krill fishery management.

The group highlighted a need to renew the efforts to assess the status of krill stocks, especially its recruitment, reproduction, and their distribution, given the rapid change in the environment in the last few decades. Understanding of krill behaviour and the timings of krill transport across different subareas are also still limited. The important role for SKAG will also be to provide expert advice on krill biology in relation to the review of CM 51-07. Interaction between SKAG and Integrating Climate and Ecosystem Dynamics in the Southern Ocean Program (ICED) was also discussed.

To implement its important goal, the group need to facilitate the attendance of a diverse range of krill experts to annual SKAG meetings to be held in association with WG-EMM meetings. The SKAG therefore requests the SC-CAMLR a travel funding of 13000 AUD (8000€) to support krill experts to attend the SKAG meeting who would not normally attend WG-EMM.