CCAMLR

Assessment and predictive models need to be developed to provide two assessments of climate change impacts for use by governments, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and other international forums, including CCAMLR and the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting: (i) what are the current climate change impacts on Southern Ocean ecosystems to inform governments of the consequences of climate change on populations, species and ecosystems; and (ii) what are the predicted future impacts on marine ecosystems, using select indicators of Southern Ocean ecosystems as early warning signals, to inform managers of human activities and ecosystem services that could be impacted by climate change?  The manner in which these assessments could be developed, based on field monitoring programs and the development of ecosystem models, was the focus of discussion at an International Workshop on ‘Monitoring climate change impacts: Establishing a Southern Ocean Sentinel program’, which was held at CCAMLR Headquarters in Hobart, Australia, on 20-24 April 2009.  It was hosted by the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre, Australian Antarctic Division, and WWF-Australia. This paper provides the Executive Summary of the report, which will be released during the final week of the CCAMLR meeting.   

Co-operation between the Scientific Committee and the Committee for Environmental Protection has been steadily increasing over the last few years to the mutual benefit of both bodies. This has been exemplified not least by the joint workshop held in Baltimore, USA (April 2009). Consistent with the recommendations stemming from that workshop, this paper aims to:
- Provide the CEP’s annual report to SC-CAMLR XXVIII;
- Suggest a standard reporting template to be routinely followed by both committees, and
- Clarify the reporting requirements between the two committees.

Trends in the krill fishery are currently informed by data on annual catches and by the annual notification procedure. There has been considerable discussion within the Scientific Committee over the utility of these sources of information to detect trends, and of the need to obtain more information from the krill industry. This paper uses publicly available patent databases to examine both the number and type of patents related to krill that are lodged annually. This information matches well with the catch and notification information, showing similar trends. It is suggested that the patent database be taken over by the Secretariat so that they can maintain an annual register of krill related patents which will be of use for indicating future trends in the krill fishery.

At CCAMLR-XXVI the Working Group on Fish Stock Assessment (WG-FSA) noted a lack of specific reference material for the identification of benthic invertebrates in areas specific to which observers carry out their activities (SC-CAMLR-XXVI: Annex 5, paragraph 6.32). To improve the standard of observer identifications and also to assist in the identification of vulnerable areas, the Scientific Committee requested that guides be prepared for the identification of benthic organisms (SC-CAMLR-XXVI: paragraph 4.190). In response to this recommendation Australia has developed the ‘Field identification guide to Heard Island and McDonald Islands (HIMI) benthic invertebrates: a guide for scientific observers aboard fishing vessels’. This Fisheries Research and Development Commission (FRDC), Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) and industry funded production is the first of its kind for the region. It is intended for use as both a training tool, and at-sea by trained observers, to make accurate identifications of invertebrate by-catch when operating in the HIMI region. The Australian Antarctic Division has now published the first edition of the guide for distribution to the HIMI observer network, enabling them to gather invertebrate by-catch data at higher taxonomic resolutions. To encourage the development of similar guides for training purposes and at-sea use by observers in other CCAMLR designated fisheries, a copy of the guide will be distributed to each CCAMLR delegate and will be available electronically on the web.

According to recommendations of Working Group on Ecosystem Monitoring and Management (SC-CAMLR-XXVIII/3, paragraph 3.7), 2009 in Bergen, due to the results of considering Document WG-EMM-09/11, in which the uncertainty of krill amount perished while its trawling at fishery is focused, the recommendations were submitted on carrying out the experiment to determine the rate of krill ‘escape mortality’ on fishing or research vessel during Antarctic krill fishery.

When establishing the ad-hoc Technical Group for At-Sea Operations (TASO), the Scientific Committee tasked it with the development of minimum standards to facilitate accreditation of observer programs participating in the CCAMLR SISO. At its 2009 meeting, TASO requested that the TASO co-conveners outline the elements of an accreditation framework, and a workplan for it implementation, for consideration by the Scientific Committee. This paper outlines the roles and responsibilities of the Scientific Committee, the Secretariat and Members in implementing a proposed accreditation framework, and timeframes to establish an accreditation framework for observer programs participating in the CCAMLR SISO.