CCAMLR

Antarctic krill fisheries have the potential to be in the top 10 fisheries of the world in terms of biomass production. The expansion of the fishery from current levels appears inevitable given the demand for protein and the efficiencies now being developed in the fishery.  CCAMLR is developing a feedback management procedure for these fisheries. Implementation of such a feedback management approach requires an appropriate level of understanding of (i) the structure, function and change of the Antarctic marine ecosystem, (ii) the possible interactions of the fishery with the ecosystem, and (iii) the types of data that can be realistically obtained and monitored on the productivity of the ecosystem and the impacts that fishing may have on the ecosystem.  WG-EMM last reviewed these in workshops between 2002-2004.  Since that time, there have been shifts in the behaviour and methods of the krill fishery enabling expansion, further research in a number of international programs and recognition of substantial change occurring in Antarctic marine ecosystems, all of which are likely to continue.  Currently, there remain a number of major gaps in our understanding of the basic biology and dynamics of krill populations and of other important food web connections. These are major elements of the ICED programme (www.iced.ac.uk).  Here we report on planned and proposed ICED activities that are relevant to krill that will be of interest to CCAMLR scientists and suggest that development of future joint activities would be of value to both the CCAMLR and ICED communities.  We invite CCAMLR engagement in these planned ICED activities, particularly to help these activities target the critical problems being addressed by CCAMLR and to help CCAMLR benefit in the long term from the scientific community involved in ICED.
 

In this paper we provide a brief summary of new plans for the study of penguin populations and associated population processes over the coming years. We envisage that our studies will provide new and up-to-date information about penguin population sizes and trends, and information about penguin survival, demography and phenology. We describe the range of new methodologies that we will employed, including digital aerial survey from manned and remote-controlled platforms, satellite remote sensing, automated individual recognition and weighing, and time-lapse camera and automated image analysis. These studies will inform our understanding of krill-eating penguins and have relevance to the development of various potential feedback management approaches for the krill fishery in the southwest Atlantic.
 

In this paper we provide a brief history that describes the development of management plans and research and monitoring plans for CCAMLR MPAs. We develop a worked example of the management plan, research and monitoring plan and threats analysis for the South Orkney Islands southern shelf MPA which falls within CCAMLR MPA Planning Domain 1. We suggest that this CCAMLR MPA Report for the South Orkney Islands could form the basis for the MPA Report for CCAMLR MPA Planning Domain 1.

We propose that others that have appropriate data and expertise might help develop the MPA Report, so that it delivers the information necessary for CCAMLR’s planning purposes, including the identification of other spatial planning measures close to the South Orkney Islands, and eventually the wider MPA Planning Domain 1.

The paper notes that under Article II, CCAMLR is obliged to protect and conserve the marine ecosystem whilst also considering rational use. Consequently, the paper recognises that a good way to develop spatial protection measures is through the appropriate combination of scientific data and fisheries data derived from a range of sources and from a range of contributors.

As agreed in 2012 (SC-CAMLR XXXI para 10.6) SCAR and CCAMLR held a 1-day Action Group meeting in Brussels during the ATCM. The aims of the meeting included examining specific mechanisms that SCAR and CCAMLR might implement to work together in a more strategic manner and identifying a series of topics/issues that are of common interest to SCAR and CCAMLR that could form an agenda for more effective collaborations.

The climate-induced changes presently seen in the ecosystems of Antarctic region require a precautionary approach with respect to the human use of these ecosystems. In particular, resource harvesting requires enough basic knowledge as well as adequate monitoring to avoid unintended impacts on the harvested stocks as well as the associated ecosystem. Due to the vastness and remoteness of the Antarctic region research vessel capacity is not readily available for conventional coverage of the harvested stocks and their ecosystems. In this paper we describe the potential of using commercial fishing vessels to bridge the gap in research vessel capacity. The various tasks and required instrumentation are presented and discussed. The realism behind the description is exemplified by a Norwegian krill fishing vessel now under construction. This type of combined fishing and research vessel capacity could make a large amount of important data available for CCAMLR analysis and thus improve the basis for resource evaluation and management.

Adélie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) are a key Southern Ocean higher-order predator with a diet which is largely comprised of the fishery target species Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba). Being central-place foragers during the breeding season, their foraging range is restricted by the physiological, environmental and time constraints imposed upon them. Knowledge of their summer and winter foraging locations is relevant to WG-EMM in terms of understanding the spatial and temporal scales of influence on CEMP parameters as well as the management of the Southern Ocean marine living resources in relation to potential direct or indirect overlap with the krill fishery. Here we present winter and summer tracking data for the Mawson, Davis and Casey Adélie penguin breeding populations. During the summer months, the birds foraged within several hundred kilometres of their breeding colonies, and at times, they accessed the highly productive shelf break. In contrast, during winter, the penguins travelled up to 3000 km away from their breeding colonies with their journey being closely associated with the sea-ice edge. This study highlights the large spatial scale of influences during the winter months for these three east Antarctic Adélie penguin populations.

The present report analyses data regarding CPUE, tagging and catch and their contribution to estimate abundance in a simple biomass dynamic model for both species of toothfish in northern area of 48.6 (SSRU 48.6A, 48.6G). Antarctic and Patagonian toothfish presented a high proportion with sets in which both species are present, and thus, an analysis of catch intention was implemented by using multivariate statistical approach of the catch composition. Standardisation of CPUE was done by using Generalised Additive Models (GAM) considering temporal and location factors. Tagging data was analysed in terms number of tagged and recovered individuals, and tag size-overlap. Catch reported and assumed IUU were combined to produce a time series of catches between 1991 and 2013.  A general biomass dynamic model in Bayesian framework using standardised CPUE and catches (considering assumed IUU) was implemented in each species of toothfish. Tagging data was not used in any of the toothfish models, because of the low number of recovered individuals and low tag size-overlap. Modelling abundance in both species is highly dependent on priors for estimated parameters and information in CPUE and catches contributed little to the abundance estimates. This indicates that other modelling framework should be implemented in order to have unbiased abundance estimates. Due to high importance of tagging data in stock assessment model, it is highly recommendable to continue with the collection of the data by scientific observed and tagging and release program. Bayesian data-poor models seem to be appropriated to treat data with little information of abundance such as presented here.

WG-EMM-STAPP is charged with estimating krill consumption by the major air-breathing predators of the Southern Ocean including ice-breeding seals, fur seals, penguins and flying seabirds. The priority region for estimation is Area 48, but the krill consumption estimates are also being developed for other regions around Antarctica under the work program of WG-EMM-STAPP as a basis for management of future krill fisheries in those regions. We present here estimates of the breeding Adélie penguin population for Divisions 58.4.1 and 58.4.2 in east Antarctica. We estimated that around 1.31 million pairs of Adelie penguins were attempting to breed at the time of the surveys in Divisions 58.4.1 and 58.4.2. This estimate is substantially higher than the previously available estimate in Woehler (1993) of 767,000 breeding pairs. This difference is likely to be due to a combination of newly discovered breeding sites contributing to the revised estimate, the use of new methods to adjust raw counts, and real population increases.
 

The Secretariat, with assistance from Prof Tetsuo Iwami, has developed a simple fish field guide designed to assist in improving the quality of observer by-catch data collected in the CCAMLR krill fishery. The draft guide provided includes a single key to distinguish fish families and 3 family specific keys for species found in the Southern Ocean. Members are invited to provide information and resources to improve this guide.