CCAMLR

The 2014/15 CCAMLR fishing season has seen significant progress in the fight to combat Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing by vessels on the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) Non-Contracting Party (NCP) IUU vessel list. This paper outlines the recent actions taken by Australia and its near neighbours, including through the Regional Plan of Action to Promote Responsible Fishing Practices Including Combatting IUU Fishing (RPOA-IUU) and notes that international cooperation has been instrumental in the successes seen in 2014/15.

Australia has undertaken an analysis of information relating to the Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing vessel (FV) Kunlun. The vessel was boarded on 26 February 2015 outside the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources Area (CCAMLR Area) in order to verify its right to fly its flag, pursuant to Article 110 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Information obtained during the boarding has informed this analysis.

This analysis is provided to support CCAMLR members in their efforts to investigate or undertake other enforcement action in relation to CCAMLR Non-Contracting Party (NCP) IUU vessels.

Based on our analysis, Australia concludes that:

• Combined international efforts effectively shortened the FV Kunlun’s fishing campaign in the Convention Area in 2014-15

• The majority of fishing was undertaken off the Antarctic coast not far from Australia’s Mawson Research Station in Statistical Division 58.4.2 (SSRU D) between 26 – 31 January 2015

• The average Dissostichus spp greenweight catch rate per gillnet was approximately 4,038kgs

• The vessel spent three weeks fishing for a total catch of 181 tonnes (processed weight from the verified factory production records) that has an estimated value of $USD3.67 million

• On average, demersal gillnets used in 2014-15 fishing season were approximately 4.3 nautical miles in length and took approximately half an hour to set, with multiple sets undertaken per day

The vessel’s catch and effort data did not match the verified factory production records. As a result, it is more likely that the data obtained by the Australian authorities does not represent the FV Kunlun’s daily fishing logbook but is a sample of the fishing activity of three separate vessels, FV Yongding (Zemour 1), FV Kunlun and FV Songhua (Zemour 2).

This paper summarises the implementation of conservation measures dealing with fishing and related activities in the 2014/15 fishing season (CM 41-01 to 41-11, 42-01, 42-02, 51-01 to 51-03, 51-07) including notifications of encounters with vulnerable marine ecosystems (VME) or potential VMEs (CM 22-06, 22-07).

The ABNJ Deep Seas Project ‘Sustainable Fisheries Management and Biodiversity Conservation of Deep-sea Living Marine Resources and Ecosystems in the Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction’ is a five year project designed to enhance sustainability in the use of deep-sea living resources and biodiversity conservation in the ABNJ through the systematic application of an ecosystem approach. The project is led by FAO in partnership with CCAMLR, RFMOs and related organisations and arrangements. The project started in September 2014 and is one of four projects under the Common Oceans Program (www.commonoceans.org).

CCAMLR has been involved in the design and development of the project, and contributes to activities that promote collaboration and sharing of experiences in deep-sea fisheries and associated biodiversity as well as specific activities on capacity building for developing countries. This contribution is coordinated by the CCAMLR Secretariat and included expert contributions from the Chair of the Scientific Committee and the Convener of WG-FSA in 2015. Project achievement to date and upcoming activities of relevance to CCAMLR are highlighted. 

The Secretariat has embarked on a major overhaul of CCAMLR data holdings and associated IT and data infrastructure. This work, which begun in 2013, includes developing an Enterprise Data Model, redeveloping the CCAMLR database, improving data quality assurance, and modernising the data work flow.

The user community can expect to notice significant improvements in data quality, database documentation and ease of use as the new system begins a process of acceptance testing from late 2015. Consequential changes will be required in requested data extracts to reflect the new data model and nomenclature.

This paper provides an update on progress, including work undertaken since WG-SAM-15 and WG-EMM-15.