CCAMLR

CCAMLR Members monitor beached debris, entanglement of marine mammals, marine debris associated with seabird colonies and animals contaminated with hydrocarbons at a number of sites, primarily in Area 48. Overall non-fishing debris items (mostly packaging items) have made up the majority of debris reported from monitoring sites. Relatively large amounts of fishing items have been reported at Bird Island, South Georgia over the last 10 years, but only small amounts from the other sites. Plastic packaging bands have been found regularly at sites monitored for beach debris and entangled on fur seals, despite their prohibition (for securing bait boxes) or restricted use (other plastic packaging bands) in Conservation Measure 26-01. Since 1991, data on entanglements of Antarctic fur seals has been received from 3 Members for 4 different sites, however only two of these sites have reported data for consecutive seasons. The most common entangling materials were plastic packaging bands, synthetic string/longline and fishing nets. The Wandering albatross has more debris reported from its colonies than any other species monitored at Bird Island with the majority of debris items being fishing lines and hooks. A total of 67 cases of hydrocarbon soiling for 8 species of seabirds, and 1 species of seal, have been reported to the Secretariat. The Wandering albatross is the most frequently recorded and the most common type of soiling agent was oil. The last ten years of data show fluctuation in the occurrence of marine debris at any of the sites monitored. The 2009 season reported lower amounts of debris at all sites, except King George Island. The Secretariat encourages all Members who collect marine debris information to submit it for inclusion in the CCAMLR Marine Debris database.

In fishing season, 2008/09, at implementation of the program on Dissostichus spp. tagging aboard Korean longliner “22 INSUNG”, in the D’Urville Sea for the short, period of time the new data on migration of one individual D.mawsoni were obtained. Supposedly, the speed of migration was about 6 km per day.

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 61/105 calls upon Regional Fisheries Management Organizations or Arrangements (RFMO/As) to take measures to prevent significant adverse impacts on vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs). In response to this CCAMLR has implemented a series of measures that limit the spatial extent, and require an assessment of potential impacts on VMEs, for those fisheries that interact with the seabed. In addition CCAMLR has and also codified an encounter with a VME during fishing operations and the resulting course of action to be taken by a vessel. In the first year of implementation 7 areas have been closed to fishing as a result of encounters with VMEs