CCAMLR

During the 2011 season, 22 scientific observation programs were conducted by 9 national and 13 internationally designated scientific observers on board krill vessels operating in the Convention Area.  For the 2012 season, 11 observer programs have been reported, with data available for 2 of these used in this report.

This document outlines a proposal from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) to provide a Geographical Information System (GIS) for CCAMLR.  The proposal offers a web-based GIS that will provide state-of-the-art capacity for managing spatial data for CCAMLR, particularly the types of information managed by WG-EMM. It also proposes joint working with the Secretariat to enable capacity building in handling geographic information, and a phased handover of system development and maintenance to the Secretariat.

BAS is well-placed to offer these geographic information services, with over 10 years of experience in developing award-winning web-based GIS and spatial data access systems.

The proposal offers a staged approach involving different levels of complexity and commitment. At this stage the document only includes indicative costs but can be followed up with a more detailed, fully-costed proposal.

An analysis of the observer data provided from the krill fishery was undertaken using a range of  complementary methods of data quality control and variance investigation. A sample pooling approach analysis on the other hand revealed the distribution of variance in krill length at different scales and indicated that krill hauled in a given month/season/area were similar enough to be pooled to compute monthly length frequency distributions. Linear Mixed Models were used to remove systematic variability in  krill length due to seasons, months and areas and this allowed estimates of variance components associated with different vessels and observers to be obtained; these were found to be statistically significant and a made a substantial contribution to the overall random variation. Recommendations for future sampling scheme, including the  potential for an adaptive responding to the variability in krill population structure are both provided and invited.

Brazil has been requested to coordinate the implementation of the review of the Management Plan for the Antarctic Specially Managed Area (ASMA) No. 1, Admiralty Bay, King George Island, South Shetland Archipelago (herein called the Area). The objective of this paper is to inform CCAMLR about the process for the revision and to ask for input into that process following the procedures described in ATCM Decision 9 (2005).

A data checking and validation process was undertaken for the data held in the CCAMLR Ecosystem Monitoring Programme database.  An outcome from this this analysis has provided an opportunity to examine the temporal patterns in the available time series as well as inter-site and inter-species comparisons. A series of questions designed to improve the understanding of the characteristics of different paramters is provided for discussion by the Working Group.

The 2nd international workshop on the ICED Southern Ocean Sentinel was held at CCAMLR Headquarters on 7-11 May 2012 in Hobart, Australia, hosted by the Australian Antarctic Division and the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre.  This paper provides a preliminary report on the discussion on strategies for measuring change in Southern Ocean marine ecosystems, including ship-based and land-based monitoring and integrated studies.  The workshop agreed a work plan for benchmarking Southern Ocean ecosystems in 2020 and for establishing routine activities for estimating change in those ecosystems.  As part of ICED and contributing to Theme 6 Biology of the Southern Ocean Observing System, this program of work will build on the work of the CCAMLR Ecosystem Monitoring Program, GLOBEC and other international programs.  It is recommended that the Scientific Committee of CCAMLR become involved in this work, particularly through the Working Group on Ecosystem Monitoring and Management and the experts involved in the CCAMLR Ecosystem Monitoring Program.  The outcomes of this work will be important for CCAMLR in measuring the status and trends of Southern Ocean ecosystems, particularly in support of developing management procedures for fisheries and in conserving marine biodiversity.

Studies related to the abundance and reproductive distribution of marine birds have the potential to act as ecological indicators. The western Antarctic Peninsula is one of the three sites in the world with some of the clearest signals of climate warming. The aim of this study was to monitor the distribution and abundance of breeding populations of chinstrap penguin (Pygoscelis antarctica) and gentoo penguin (Pygoscelis papua) in the northern sector of the Danco Coast, north-west of the Antarctic Peninsula during the breeding season 2010-2011. Our results showed an overall increase in both populations in relation the 1998. Since the effects of climate change and human harvesting could confound underlying ecological mechanisms, this study highlights the need to strengthen population monitoring studies.

We describe the use of a GIS-based Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) tool designed to aid the development and transparent evaluation of MPA scenarios with reference to spatially explicit protection objectives and cost layers representing rational use in a systematic conservation planning framework.  The MSP tool has been customised to enable rapid set-up and use in any of the nine CCAMLR MPA planning domains.

This document provides a preliminary version of a  research and monitoring plan to accompany a proposal to CCAMLR for the establishment of a system of MPAs in the Ross Sea region in 2012.

The draft Conservation Measure which with this research and monitoring plan is associated includes eight protection objectives as identified in Sharp & Watters (2011).  Within each of these eight objectives there are identified specific objectives each of which is associated with an explicit spatial distribution or ‘target area’ defining the geographic extent of the feature (e.g. key ecosystem processes, habitats, species, populations and/or life-history stages) that has been identified as a priority for protection. This draft MPA research and monitoring plan is structured consistent with these specific objectives and priority features.  Pursuant of each specific objective we identify the following categories of inquiry:  i) research and monitoring to ensure that the boundaries of the priority feature as defined in the target area remain accurate, and/or to determine to what extent those boundaries may be moving; ii) research and monitoring to further understand the ecosystem role and importance of the priority feature, and/or to understand the environmental or biological processes that affect it, including potential threats from fishing; and iii)  research and monitoring to demonstrate the extent to which achievement of the specific objective is being met, i.e. to demonstrate whether identified or plausible threats are being effectively mitigated by the MPA

New Zealand welcomes feedback from and collaboration with other Members in the development of a draft research and monitoring plan. The plan will be revised following discussion for resubmission to SC-CCAMLR-XXXI in September 2012.

A balanced ecosystem model is used to explore the system-level characteristics of the food-web of the Ross Sea shelf and slope before the advent of commercial fishing for Antarctic toothfish (Dissostichus mawsoni) in the region. We evaluate: (1) biomass and flow of organic matter by trophic level; (2) mixed trophic impact; and (3) ecological importance. Note that the analysis considers food-web structure and function at the spatial, temporal and ecological scale of the ecosystem model, i.e. the whole Ross Sea shelf and slope area, averaged over a typical year, and in 35 trophic groups. Effects at smaller spatial and temporal scales, and effects concerning only parts of trophic groups, are not resolved by this analysis. The Ross Sea food-web is a partially inverted biomass pyramid with a pronounced peak in biomass in the lower-middle part of the food-web, a result of high biomass of mesozooplankton and benthic invertebrates. The biomass of top predators (trophic levels>4.5) is only 0.5% of the total living biomass in the Ross Sea (bacteria excluded). The six groups with the highest ‘indices of ecological importance’ in the food-web of the Ross Sea are phytoplankton, mesozooplankton, Antarctic silverfish (Pleuragramma antarcticum), small demersal fishes, Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) and cephalopods. Pelagic fishes and crystal krill (E. crystallorophias) are also likely to have high importance in the Ross Sea food-web. These eight groups should be the priorities for monitoring for large-scale ecosystem change in the region, for example due to climate change, trophic cascades or regime shift. The analysis presented here does not support the hypothesis that changes to the abundance of toothfish in the Ross Sea will propagate through the food-web; it appears that Antarctic toothfish only have a moderate index of ecological importance in the food-web of the Ross Sea shelf and slope. Changing the biomass of Antarctic toothfish on the Ross Sea shelf and slope is likely to have the greatest effect on the demersal fish community there.