CCAMLR

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).

The CDS was effectively implemented in 2019 by 16 Member States, three Acceding States and one NCP cooperating with CCAMLR by participating in the CDS, and one NCP with limited access to the CDS. CDS reports of catches outside the Convention Area have increased in 2018. The Secretariat contacted 16 NCPs to seek their engagement in the CDS in 2019.

Analyses of the trends and supply chains in the CDS data was undertaken for 2018 and 2019. Across both years Chile had the greatest number of DCDs landings and exports and greatest quantity of exports (4 644 tonnes and 2 539 tonnes). For both years France landed the largest quantity of toothfish (4 461 tonnes and 2 986 tonnes). The largest quantity of imports was by the United States of America (USA) in both years, followed by China. Analysis of supply chains within the CDS identified the supply chain carrying the greatest tonnage of toothfish was between France and China.

This paper presents an updated stock assessment for the Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) fishery of the Crozet Islands, CCAMLR sub-area 58-6, with data up to the end of the season 2018/2019 (End of August 2019). This updated assessment model is based on the best available data and includes longline tag-release and tag-recapture data from 2007 to 2019 and priors and estimates on life traits model parameters (e.g. growth, maturity and natural mortality). It also uses commercial data that account for fish removals (fishing mortality and depredation) and support the estimation of their associated selectivity functions.

Compared to the previous assessment presented at WG-FSA 17 (Sinègre et al., 2017b), this assessment accounts for (1) updated data (2017/2018 & 2018/2019) (2) updated growth curve and (3) legal catches taken on the adjacent waters of Del Cano rise, outside the CCAMLR area. All model runs were conducted with the CASAL 2.30 2012-03-21 rev. 4648, that was agreed on by WG-SAM-14.

The updated model leads to smaller estimate of the virgin spawning stock biomass B0 than the one obtained in 2017, with an estimate of 54 610 tons (48 560-60 880). The estimate of the current SSB status of the stock is 63% (58.2%-66.6%) and the current catch limit satisfies the CCAMLR decision rules.

KEYWORDS: Dissostichus eleginoides, Crozet Islands, Stock assessment, Patagonian toothfish, State-space model, Population dynamic model