CCAMLR

1. South Africa is seeking GEF assistance to support capacity building and training in science and science processes associated with Antarctic and Southern Ocean ecosystems, including: Measuring potential physical and ecological degradation and destabilisation from the effects of climate change (particularly ocean acidification) and pollution; Identifying and managing the risk from marine alien invasive species as a result of human visits (vessels, scientists etc) as well as with changing ecosystem conditions resulting from climate change; Gaining a better understanding of fishing effort and identification of overfishing of target species and associated or species dependent on the same ecosystem taken in Antarctic and Southern Ocean fisheries; Developing stronger partnerships to monitor and control IUU fishing; and Assistance with assessing and developing management plans for special protected and managed areas.
2. As the multilateral agency responsible for the conservation of Antarctic marine living resources, and the organisation in which South Africa is seeking GEF support to more effectively engage, particularly in relation to science processes, CCAMLR has a key role in this initiative. South Africa is seeking support from CCAMLR for this project.

The Scientific Committee has agreed that the proposed 2011 workshop should be a priorityfor support by the MPAs Special Fund. It requested that the MPAs Special FundCorrespondence Group should develop a proposal for the workshop, and that funds could beset aside for this purpose as required (SC-CAMLR-XXVIII, paragraph 3.32). The Correspondence Group has therefore developed this preliminary proposal forconsideration by WG-EMM, including draft terms of reference, suggested outputs, requiredexpertise, possible timing, and an outline budget. It is hoped that this proposal can be refinedby WG-EMM and subsequently presented to SC-CAMLR-XXIV for its endorsement.

Since 2005, the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) has progressed plans to implement spatial management for purposes of marine conservation (i.e. networks of Marine Protected Areas, or MPAs). In 2008 CCAMLR utilized a circumpolar-scale ‘bioregionalisation’ to identify areas within which MPA designation should be considered as a matter of high priority. Members have been encouraged to progress spatial management planning at regional scales, using both fine-scale bioregionalisation and ‘systematic conservation planning’ (SC-CAMLR XXVII, paragraph 3.55). In 2009 the CCAMLR Scientific Committee agreed a series of milestones to achieve a representative network of MPAs in the CCAMLR Area by 2012. New Zealand has been an active contributor to the CCAMLR spatial management planning process, and has declared its interest in progressing spatial marine protection in the Ross Sea region. To this end, in June 2009 New Zealand hosted a Ross Sea Region Bioregionalisation and Spatial Ecosystem Processes international expert workshop, tasked with assembling and analysing available environmental and biological spatial data for the Ross Sea region and summarizing this information to inform spatial management design, consistent with CCAMLR endorsed methods. The workshop met for five days and was attended by twenty-one international experts with a range of relevant expertise. Analytical methods were as in previous CCAMLR Bioregionalisation workshops (Grant et al. 2006, SC-CAMLR XXVI/9), i.e. automated environmental classification using cluster analyses of environmental datasets, iteratively selected and validated with reference to expert knowledge and spatial biological data, with additional expert consultation to identify areas containing ecosystem processes of particular importance. Outputs from the workshop include the following: i) a fine-scale benthic bioregionalisation of the Ross Sea region; ii) a fine-scale pelagic bioregionalisation of the Ross Sea region; and iii) an agreed list and map of spatially bounded ecosystem processes of particular importance for conservation of the regional ecosystem. The purpose of this paper is to describe the 2009 Ross Sea region Bioregionalisation and Spatial Ecosystem Processes expert workshop -- including available input data, workshop methodology, and workshop outputs -- and to present these outputs for consideration by CCAMLR and the wider Antarctic science and marine management community, to inform spatial management planning in the Ross Sea region. In isolation any one of the three main workshop outputs provides an incomplete picture. It is New Zealand’s intention that these three outputs be utilized together to guide ongoing efforts by New Zealand and other CCAMLR Members to design and implement a representative and effective marine spatial protection and management network, to safeguard the environmental values and ecosystem integrity of the Ross Sea region while providing for rational use, consistent with the CCAMLR mandate.

In 2009 SC-CCAMLR identified a list of tasks to be considered intersessionally to progress a framework within CCAMLR to manage the risk that bottom fishing in the CCAMLR Area may produce significant adverse impacts on certain benthic habitats, termed Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs). One of the identified intersessional tasks was to produce a glossary of terms relevant to the management of VMEs (SC-CAMLR XXVIII, paragraph 4.251(iii)). We propose a glossary of terms relevant to VMEs, for wider consideration within CCAMLR, to improve understanding and facilitate clarity of communication in addressing VME issues.

High resolution VME taxa bycatch data (at the longline segment level) has been collected for two fishing seasons, with 4728 longline segments observed. Several regions with consistent presence of sponge and/or gorgonian bycatch are identifiable, as are several areas of dense fishing effort with no evidence of sponge or gorgonian presence. Identifiable sponge and/or gorgonian habitats occurred at a typical scale of 10-30 km², though some sponge habitats appeared larger. Spatial analysis of these data allows the detectability of sponges and gorgonian corals to be estimated, along with changes in catch rate at different densities. Results indicate that sponge patches are detected more than 70% of the time when present, and gorgonian patches are detected more than 60% of the time. Video transects on the Ross Sea slope from New Zealand’s 2008 IPY voyage provided data on the fine scale distributions (i.e. < 600 m) of sponges, stony corals, and ascidians. The prevalence of sponge and gorgonian habitats also varies among four benthic bioregions developed for the Ross Sea. Together, the data show that sponges and other vulnerable taxa occur in complex mosaic patterns of small patches dispersed within larger habitats. Confirmation of these results is necessary using independent methods such as underwater video and would provide a method to link bycatch observations to habitat density on the seafloor.

Accurate estimation of the true impact of bottom fishing on vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) requires knowledge of the distribution of those communities relative to the fishing footprint. If high target fish catch rates are associated with habitats where VMEs are found, impacts from fishing would be higher than if VMEs are distributed randomly with respect to fishing locations. This study used the catch of the six most common vulnerable invertebrate taxa reported by observers on New Zealand vessels during the 2009/10 Ross Sea longline fisheries to correlate toothfish catch rates and benthic invertebrate catch rates at a longline segment level. Analysis of the data available showed no evidence that the presence of any of six VME taxa was related to Antarctic toothfish catch at the scale of a longline segment, approximately 1.2 km. This supports conclusions of previous work finding no relationship between total VME taxa weight and toothfish catch at the scale of a longline set, up to 10km. Our data were too limited for a robust comparison among fishing areas. Further studies at intermediate scales (10–100 km) would be useful to determine if both toothfish and individual VME taxa have regionally concentrated distributions showing a high degree of spatial overlap.

The plan of implementation for Agenda 21 of the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development (2002) requires an estate of marine protected areas for the purposes of long‐term conservation of marine biodiversity by 2012. A representative system of marine protected areas (RSMPA) will be one that (i) provides a spatial estate of the smallest area sufficient to satisfy the principles of Comprehensiveness, Adequacy and Representativeness (CAR) in the long term, (ii) accounts for the state of knowledge, and (iii) can be modified as the state of knowledge improves. In addition, the utility of the RSMPA will be increased if it (iv) can act as a source for maintaining biodiversity in areas outside of the system, (v) can act as a reference for natural variability and change, and (vi) provides for ecosystem resilience in the face of climate change, which is a natural extension of the requirement for adequacy. CCAMLR has been developing a RSMPA since its first Workshop on Marine Protected Areas in 2005, establishing its first large marine protected area in this program in 2009 with the adoption of the South Orkney Islands MPA. To date, there has been no consideration of a RSMPA in eastern Antarctica. In this paper, we develop a proposal for a RSMPA in eastern Antarctica for the region between 30^oE and 150^oE and from the coast to 60^oS. We compile relevant data and information to assess where an estate of areas may be placed in a RSMPA for eastern Antarctica in order to be likely to satisfy the CAR and utility principles described above, despite the paucity of data for the region. The proposal covers 37% of the region aiming to achieve low fragmentation of areas, efficient boundaries for management, and optimizing its utility as reference areas, particularly for the CCAMLR Ecosystem Monitoring Program. It will not interfere with rational use of the region, including for Antarctic krill and Antarctic toothfish. A process for updating the boundaries as new information becomes available is proposed. An important feature of identifying the values, including utility, of the RSMPA will be to ensure that activities do not inadvertently erode those values in the region in the future.

A benthic sampling program in the Heard Island and McDonald Islands (HIMI, CCAMLR Statistical Division 58.5.2) region was undertaken by the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) from 2003 to 2008. Quantitative samples collected during three cruises by the fishing vessel Southern Champion from eleven geographic areas, using either a beam trawl or benthic sled, provide the most comprehensive quantitative insight into the distribution, abundance and species composition of macrobenthic invertebrate communities in the region. The areas sampled were selected for the purpose of comparing and reporting regional differences in faunal composition and consist of a number of seamounts and submarine plateaus. The macrobenthic invertebrate fauna of the region is moderate in diversity and, while many taxa are endemic, is broadly typical of deep sea sub-Antarctic faunal assemblages. Included in these taxa are a range of slow growing and vulnerable benthos, including corals, sponges and bryozoans, which would be particularly susceptible to disturbance. The results of this assessment are being used by Australia in evaluating the conservation of benthic biodiversity in this region.

Currently, some State Parties require, as a requirement to introduce toothfish into their markets, that VMS reports by vessels that capture toothfish be transmitted previously and in real time to the Secretariat, even when the captures take place outside the Convention Area. This document proposes that when Contracting States voluntarily report the activities performed in waters beyond the jurisdiction of the Convention, the Secretariat should ensure that such information is being loaded into the CCAMLR data bases in a timely manner and made readily available for consultation by those State Parties. This is proposed to be carried out through a modification of Conservation Measure 10-04 (2007) in accordance with the terms contained in the attached document.

For several years (2006-2009) the Ukraine has been proposing that international or national scientific observer onboard krill fishing vessel became mandatory. In 2008, the Ukraine highlighted the magnitude of the scientific uncertainties and data gaps that are hampering progress with regards to the subdivision of the precautionary catch limit among SSMUs in Area 48 (CCAMLR XXVII/43). Because the CCAMLR scheme of international scientific observation is nowadays the main basic source of data that can fill existing uncertainties, the Ukraine proposed to enhance Conservation Measure 51-06 so as to provide more systematic coverage by international/national scientific observers in the krill fishery. Krill escapement mortality - and the methods to determine it - is closely connected with the need to have systematic observer coverage in the krill fishery. Experiments to estimate krill escapement mortality should be introduced on all krill fishing vessels that carry scientific observers onboard. To conduct krill escapement mortality experiments it is proposed to amend the Scientific Observers Manual, including a new suitable section to the Observer Cruise Report. The need to have observers collecting data on krill escapement mortality emphasizes the need to have a comprehensive observer program in place for the krill fishery.