CCAMLR

During the SISO review several questions were raised about the need for continued use of bottle tests to allow an exemption from night setting in CCAMLR longline fisheries. There are now a number of CMs that are interrelated with respect to seabird mitigation and it may be timely to update (and simplify) the seabird mitigation elements of these measures. The changes that are proposed do not seek to change any of the practical and highly effective measures currently in place.

The purpose of this paper is to respond to a request made at the XXXII CCAMLR meeting in 2013 for ACAP to provide information on the levels of seabird bycatch in fisheries adjacent to the CCAMLR Convention area. A summary of the most recent bycatch and related information held by ACAP is presented, and the current status of the process to develop a bycatch data reporting and assessment framework is reported. It is noted that work is ongoing in this respect, and that the information provided represents that which has been provided by Parties to date, and that these data have not yet been further assessed or analysed. In relation to Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs), it is reported that there is a general need to improve levels of bycatch reporting, and in some cases to develop or refine data collection and reporting protocols, so that levels of seabird bycatch and the efficacy of mitigation measures required can be properly assessed and monitored. Initiatives that are currently underway to help address these needs are highlighted.

In 2013 New Zealand and the USA submitted a draft research and monitoring plan to accompany a proposal for a Marine Protected Area in the Ross Sea region.  In this paper we describe new research projects planned or initiated since submission of that plan, to address priority research activities identified therein. We also identify new research proposals submitted in the past year that are also expected to address priority activities identified in the plan. All CCAMLR Members are encouraged to contribute to this list describing their own planned or ongoing research projects, and to engage in multi-Member collaboration toward the implementation of a genuinely multi-Member ecosystem research and monitoring programme in the Ross Sea region.   

A proposal for a Marine Protected Area in the Ross Sea region has been submitted to CCAMLR and iteratively updated since 2012 consistent with Scientific Committee advice.  The purpose of this paper is to: 1)  identify previously submitted scientific documents supporting MPA planning in the Ross Sea region; 2) highlight relevant Scientific Committee advice to support or modify previous iterations of this proposal; and 3) update relevant maps, figures and analyses from previously submitted scientific papers to reflect the boundaries of the current MPA proposal and with updated fishery data, to assist evaluation of the current proposal.