CCAMLR

The solution of problems of conservation the Antarctic marina living resources and, at the same time, maintenance of their rational use, requires possession of up-to-date information that summarized availability of each harvested species of resources for human use. In connection with this it is proposed a specific indicator – "Availability Index (AI)", which accumulates the all existing information on availability of the specific marina living resources for fishery. The availability index can be used as universal criterium which monitors the protection potential of the conservation measures together with natural conditions, as well as conditions for fishery.

Taking into account the practice and current state of krill fishery in Area 48, Ukraine proposed to upgrade the Conservation Measure 51-07 in order to redistribute the trigger level of catch in 620 000 tonnes between Subareas in Area 48 in a new percentage limits. This revision includes additional precautional measures to avoid interceptance of krill fishery and preadors consumption needs establishing season limitations of close to shore fishery. New revision will still enable to follow the precaution conservation principles of the Convention and in the same time will not inflict an economic damage to the krill fishery.

We provide a brief update on the progress of our project “Establishing a CEMP Camera Network in Subarea 48.1”. The project was initiated with support from the CEMP Fund in 2014/15. The project is now running, with 53 time-lapse cameras installed throughout Subarea 48.1. Installation of cameras was conducted mainly during the 2015/16 field season. However, early installation and/or inclusion of pre-existing cameras at some sites enabled validation studies to be completed and partial network coverage of breeding chronology and success estimates for 2015/16.  We were also able to develop methods for analyzing the photographic data. We expect estimates of breeding chronology and reproductive success for Adélie, gentoo, and chinstrap penguins at all camera sites throughout Subarea 48.1 to be available for the CEMP from the 2016/17 season.

In the report we describe the season activity in the Ukrainian Vernadsky Antarctic Station area on installation CEMP cameras in penguin colonies as part of the CEMP project run by USA, Argentina, Poland and Ukraine 'Establishing a CEMP Camera Network in Subarea 48.1'. In season 2015/2016 we installed nine cameras at penguine colonies at Petermann, Yalour and Galindez Islands to monitor pengiune nests for breeding success and chronology. Cameras have been installed in the middle of breeding season due to late arrival and hard ice conditions in Argentine Islands area. In time of cameras establishing in all colonies the penguine chicks were in the nests already. We expect to receive photo sequences for all breeding activity the next season in 2016/2017. The training of winterers-biologists has been provided for CEMP rules activity and for monitoring that can assist with camera data validation.

During the last years, a large amount of information was gathered and shared in one unique project for the development of a representative system of MPAs in Domain 1. This process integrates, compiles, analyses and exposes a large amount of information, not only contributing to the best science available but also providing a platform for the sharing and visualization of information, further improving the decision making process. Data was shared according to CCAMLR rules, providing the opportunity for other countries to develop their own analyses. During these years a solid foundation of collaboration and cooperation amongst Members involved in the development was built. However, there are still a number of Members currently doing research and/or undertaking commercial activities, that desirably could became involved in the development of the MPA proposal and contribute to the state of knowledge. This document highlights the progress made towards a common framework for Domain 1 MPA and further encourages the establishment of a cooperation network among countries.

This report is a presentation of environmental information on the Crozet oceanic zone that was obtained during the CROMEBA project (CROzet Marine Ecosystem Based Management). This project aims to determine the prerequisites at the environmental or biodiversity levels to propose new conservation measures that would expand geographically in the EEZ the actual National Marine Nature Reserve. The natural reserve is actually limited to the 12 nautical miles surrounding 4 islands of the archipelago.

This report follows the CCAMLR workshop on Planning Domain 5 with focusing on the Crozet islands oceanic zone (Koubbi et al., 2012).

This report is gives:

1.    A summary of the ecological characteristics of the Crozet oceanic zone on:

-        Pelagic and benthic biodiversity,

-        Marine birds and mammals tracked from the Possession islands,

-        Killer whales and sperm whales linked to fisheries observations.

2.     An ecoregionalisation combining:

-        The pelagic regions obtained from a classification of physical oceanographic features (fronts, retention zones, …) and chlorophyll-a which influence the pelagic food web including top predators,

-        Bathomes influencing benthic and demersal fish ichthyofauna,

3.     Recommendations for future researches and monitoring in the context of climate change consequences on subantarctic areas. 

Given their ecological and economic importance, understanding how climate change will affect krill resources and the marine ecosystem in Antarctic waters is critical. Previous research has demonstrated possible climate change impacts on krill habitat and growth. In this preliminary study, we assessed the potential consequences of these impacts for both the krill stock and its dependent predators using a peer-reviewed krill-predator-fishery ecosystem dynamics model. Initial results demonstrate the potential for projected temperature changes to negatively affect the individual weight and population biomass of krill as well as the abundance of krill-dependent predators. These outcomes have implications for our expectations about krill resources, and the larger Southern Ocean ecosystem. Further exploration is planned.

The analysis of euphausiid larvae collected during january 2011 in the Weddell Scotia Confluence region show a strong decrease in the abundance of Euphausia superba larvae and an increase in Thysanoessa macrura. Oceanographic conditions didn’t show any significant variations respect historical information. The analysis was conducted using cluster and correspondence analysis finding that the associations of the different larvae and especies correspond to the available information. The densities observed during the cruise were compared with densities obtained in 1981 and 1995 calculating expected values at a fixed grid of points. Significance of the differences was established using a binomial test on their signs.

Antarctic krill is a key species in the Southern Ocean food web and is also the target of the greatest fishery in Antarctic waters. Management of the fishery is based on a precautionary catch limit, representing 0.11 the allowable catch limit for CCAMLR Area 48, and further divided by subarea. Despite that the fishery is operating in the Antarctic Peninsula area since 1980s, the spatial and temporal pattern of the fishery is only described in meso to macro scales (>>10⁴ km²). Here we present a novel analysis to identified fishing grounds, using statistical analysis of hotspots, in this case, fishing hotspots (FH), combined with a temporal analysis to assess persistence of these FHs. Results indicate that the fishery is presenting consistent FH across years, particularly during those years when the precautionary catch limit is reached. These events occur mainly in the centre of the Bransfield Strait and the northern section of the Gerlache Strait, and have a duration of 3 to 5 months. FH identified are small, equivalent to a circle of radius 25 km, and have a high catch density (>10 ton∙km^-2) during years when the catch limit is reached. The analysis show that the krill fishing fleet is concurring to know fishing grounds year after year, where they obtain high catches, and that the catch density (ton∙km^-2) inside the FHs is correlated with the total catch obtained, suggesting its use as an index of krill abundance in an area.

We studied Ross Sea killer whales (RSKWs; Orcinus orca, Antarctic type C), a fish-eating ecotype, in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, during 7 seasons, over a 14-year period from 2001/02 to 2014/15. Using photo-identification methods, we identified 352 individual RSKWs in the Sound and up to 175 there annually. Despite high turnover of different whales between years, we used a Bayesian mark-recapture approach to identify a seasonal ‘resident’ population with an average annual abundance of 55 individuals (95% probability = 44-68) that exhibited strong inter- and intra-annual site fidelity, with individuals resighted over 2-14 years. Contrary to recent reports that commercial overfishing of Antarctic toothfish (Dissostichus mawsoni) may have led to a marked decline RSKW numbers in the southwestern Ross Sea, our analysis suggests that at least the resident killer whale population in McMurdo Sound is stable with the average annual estimated number of deaths (= 2.4, 95% probability = 1.2-4) being balanced by the estimated number of recruits (= 2.6, 95% probability = 0.9-4.4).