CCAMLR

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.

The Republic of Korea proposes that vessels that have received a fishery closure notice are required to immediately acknowledge the receipt of such a notice, and the Secretariat alerts the flag state if such acknowledgement is not received within a specific time frame to be agreed by the Commission. The amendment has been made as paragraph 1bis. The Republic of Korea believes that this new addition will serve as a belt-and-braces measure that complements the implementation of paragraph 2 of CM 31-02.

The Secretariat’s existing Strategic Plan runs from 2015 to 2018. A new strategic plan for 2019–2022 is presented, and details two types of tasks: thematic tasks, which seek to deliver specific objectives within the four years of the plan, and will involve contributions from all departments; and departmental tasks, which will largely be delivered by individual departments according to their key responsibilities and roles.

The Commission is invited to approve the plan.

This paper proposes an administrative realignment of the boundary between Statistical Subarea 88.1 and Statistical Subarea 88.2 in order to harmonise with the exploratory fisheries for Dissostichus mawsoni in those subareas and with other conservation measures in force. The proposal would move the boundary of Subareas 88.1 and 88.2 from 170°W to 150°W with small-scale research units (SSRUs) 882A and B being renamed SSRUs 881N and 881O. This proposal would simplify the administrative complexity that currently adds an administrative burden on Members and the Secretariat in respect of fishery notifications, vessel movements, catch reporting and the Catch Documentation Scheme for Dissostichus spp. (CDS) (Conservation Measures (CMs) 21-02, 10-04, 10 05). Minor changes to CMs 41-10 and CM 41-09 would be required but these would have no material impact on the operation of fisheries in these areas.

The Secretariat recommends that the Commission endorse these changes for inclusion in revisions to the conservation measures.

This paper reviews the procedure established by the Secretariat to monitor catch and effort in the context of results from the 2017/18 fishing season.

Since 2002, CCAMLR has been working on the development of a network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) with the aim of conserving marine biodiversity in the Convention Area. Consistent with this goal and taking into account the singularities of the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) and South Scotia Arc region, the delegations of Argentina and Chile propose the establishment of an MPA in the Planning Domain 1 (D1MPA), to protect representative habitats for marine living resources, preserve ecosystem processes, protect vital areas for zooplankton, fish, mammal and bird life-cycles, and maintain reference areas for scientific research and monitoring. This proposal is consistent with Conservation Measure 91-04 (2011) and the recommendations and scientific conclusions discussed since 2012 by the Commission, Scientific Committee and its Working Groups, including those of the Domain 1 Expert Group.

Taking into account results of the WS-DmPH Workshop (Berlin, 2018), proposals are being considered to obtain data for the development of a science-based hypothesis on Antarctic toothfish (Dissostichus mawsoni) life cycle and stock in Area 48.

The Ross Sea region MPA Research and Monitoring Plan in its current form requires serious revision, refinement and further discussion by the Scientific Committee and its working groups (WG-SAM, WG-FSA) ahead of its discussion by the Commission.Comments and proposals are presented regarding the revision and improvement of the research and monitoring plan.

Establishing MPAs for spatial management in the Convention Area requires the preliminary development of a unified approach and unified criteria supported with adequate scientific information and should be enshrined in CCAMLR conservation measures. Relevant proposals are discussed herein.