CCAMLR

Numbers of Crozet shags Phalacrocorax [atriceps] melanogenis breeding at Marion Island decreased by more than 70% from 840 pairs in 1994/95 to 220 pairs in 2003/04 and then increased to some 500 pairs in 2008/09. The trends are thought to have been influenced by breeding success, which averaged 0.30 and 0.66 chicks per pair per year from 1998/99–2002/03 and 2003/04–2008/09, respectively. There were similar trends in numbers breeding and breeding success of gentoo penguins Pygoscelis papua, which at Marion Island have a similar diet to Crozet shags, suggesting that both species may have been influenced by food availability. Numbers of Crozet shags breeding at Prince Edward Island approximately doubled between the summers of 2001/02 and 2008/09. In 2008/09, some 600 pairs of Crozet shags were breeding at the Prince Edward Islands. (Afr. J. Mar. Sci., 31 (3) (2009): 427–430)

Four species of penguin breed regularly at South Africa’s Prince Edward Islands: king penguin Aptenodytes patagonicus, gentoo penguin Pygoscelis papua, macaroni penguin Eudyptes chrysolophus and southern rockhopper penguin E. chrysocome. In December 2008 it was estimated that some 65 000 pairs of king penguins were incubating eggs at Marion Island, the larger of the two islands in the group, and 2000 pairs at Prince Edward Island. At Marion Island from 1987–2008, there was no long-term trend in numbers of king penguin chicks that survived to the end of the winter period, but there was considerable fluctuation in chick production in the 1990s. It was roughly estimated that on average 88% of king penguin chicks survived the winter period (from April to September/October). Numbers of gentoo penguins at Marion Island decreased from more than 1300 pairs in the mid 1990s to fewer than 800 pairs in 2003, and then increased to almost 1100 pairs in 2008 as breeding success improved. Between 1994/95 and 2008/09 numbers of macaroni and southern rockhopper penguins at Marion Island decreased by about 30% and 70%, respectively. In 2008/09, some 290 000 pairs of macaroni penguins bred at this island, mostly in two large colonies where there was a progressive decrease in the density of nests. At both these colonies decreases in numbers breeding followed outbreaks of disease. Inadequate breeding success has influenced the decreases of macaroni and rockhopper penguins. In 2008/09, some 42 000 pairs of southern rockhopper penguins bred at Marion Island and 12 000 pairs of macaroni penguins and 38 000 pairs of southern rockhopper penguins at Prince Edward Island. (Afr. J. Mar. Sci., 31 (3) (2009): 419–426)

Systematic conservation planning is a recognised tool for advancing ongoing efforts to establish meaningful protection for the unique biodiversity of the Southern Ocean. With conservation planning already underway in a number of priority areas within the Southern Ocean, this report looks at the feasibility of complementing these targeted initiatives by assembling and analysing existing biophysical data at a whole of Southern Ocean scale. Such an analysis would provide technical support to planning for the remaining priority areas, and ensure that proposals arising out of individual priority areas can be incorporated into a whole of Southern Ocean context, while also enabling planning work to occur concurrently for areas outside the prioritiy areas. To achieve this, a marine ecosystems and habitats dataset has been developed and incorporated into the systematic conservation planning decision support tool Marxan. This report offers a proof of concept that systematic conservation planning can be applied at a whole of Southern Ocean scale.

The Secretariat has received a notification from the UK for exploratory fisheries for Dissostichus spp. in Subareas 88.1 and 88.2 in 2010/11. This notification included a preliminary assessment of the potential for the proposed bottom fishing activities to have significant adverse impact on Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs), as required by CCAMLR Conservation Measure 22-06. In an accompanying letter, the UK advised that the notification was intentionally submitted before the 25 July deadline so that the data enclosed will be available for discussion by WG-EMM in their consideration of VME impacts (in addition to normal consideration by WG-FSA) should that be desired. The enclosed document was submitted to WG-EMM by the Secretariat, on behalf of the UK.

1. South Africa is seeking GEF assistance to support capacity building and training in science and science processes associated with Antarctic and Southern Ocean ecosystems, including: Measuring potential physical and ecological degradation and destabilisation from the effects of climate change (particularly ocean acidification) and pollution; Identifying and managing the risk from marine alien invasive species as a result of human visits (vessels, scientists etc) as well as with changing ecosystem conditions resulting from climate change; Gaining a better understanding of fishing effort and identification of overfishing of target species and associated or species dependent on the same ecosystem taken in Antarctic and Southern Ocean fisheries; Developing stronger partnerships to monitor and control IUU fishing; and Assistance with assessing and developing management plans for special protected and managed areas.
2. As the multilateral agency responsible for the conservation of Antarctic marine living resources, and the organisation in which South Africa is seeking GEF support to more effectively engage, particularly in relation to science processes, CCAMLR has a key role in this initiative. South Africa is seeking support from CCAMLR for this project.

The Scientific Committee has agreed that the proposed 2011 workshop should be a priorityfor support by the MPAs Special Fund. It requested that the MPAs Special FundCorrespondence Group should develop a proposal for the workshop, and that funds could beset aside for this purpose as required (SC-CAMLR-XXVIII, paragraph 3.32). The Correspondence Group has therefore developed this preliminary proposal forconsideration by WG-EMM, including draft terms of reference, suggested outputs, requiredexpertise, possible timing, and an outline budget. It is hoped that this proposal can be refinedby WG-EMM and subsequently presented to SC-CAMLR-XXIV for its endorsement.

Since 2005, the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) has progressed plans to implement spatial management for purposes of marine conservation (i.e. networks of Marine Protected Areas, or MPAs). In 2008 CCAMLR utilized a circumpolar-scale ‘bioregionalisation’ to identify areas within which MPA designation should be considered as a matter of high priority. Members have been encouraged to progress spatial management planning at regional scales, using both fine-scale bioregionalisation and ‘systematic conservation planning’ (SC-CAMLR XXVII, paragraph 3.55). In 2009 the CCAMLR Scientific Committee agreed a series of milestones to achieve a representative network of MPAs in the CCAMLR Area by 2012. New Zealand has been an active contributor to the CCAMLR spatial management planning process, and has declared its interest in progressing spatial marine protection in the Ross Sea region. To this end, in June 2009 New Zealand hosted a Ross Sea Region Bioregionalisation and Spatial Ecosystem Processes international expert workshop, tasked with assembling and analysing available environmental and biological spatial data for the Ross Sea region and summarizing this information to inform spatial management design, consistent with CCAMLR endorsed methods. The workshop met for five days and was attended by twenty-one international experts with a range of relevant expertise. Analytical methods were as in previous CCAMLR Bioregionalisation workshops (Grant et al. 2006, SC-CAMLR XXVI/9), i.e. automated environmental classification using cluster analyses of environmental datasets, iteratively selected and validated with reference to expert knowledge and spatial biological data, with additional expert consultation to identify areas containing ecosystem processes of particular importance. Outputs from the workshop include the following: i) a fine-scale benthic bioregionalisation of the Ross Sea region; ii) a fine-scale pelagic bioregionalisation of the Ross Sea region; and iii) an agreed list and map of spatially bounded ecosystem processes of particular importance for conservation of the regional ecosystem. The purpose of this paper is to describe the 2009 Ross Sea region Bioregionalisation and Spatial Ecosystem Processes expert workshop -- including available input data, workshop methodology, and workshop outputs -- and to present these outputs for consideration by CCAMLR and the wider Antarctic science and marine management community, to inform spatial management planning in the Ross Sea region. In isolation any one of the three main workshop outputs provides an incomplete picture. It is New Zealand’s intention that these three outputs be utilized together to guide ongoing efforts by New Zealand and other CCAMLR Members to design and implement a representative and effective marine spatial protection and management network, to safeguard the environmental values and ecosystem integrity of the Ross Sea region while providing for rational use, consistent with the CCAMLR mandate.

In 2009 SC-CCAMLR identified a list of tasks to be considered intersessionally to progress a framework within CCAMLR to manage the risk that bottom fishing in the CCAMLR Area may produce significant adverse impacts on certain benthic habitats, termed Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs). One of the identified intersessional tasks was to produce a glossary of terms relevant to the management of VMEs (SC-CAMLR XXVIII, paragraph 4.251(iii)). We propose a glossary of terms relevant to VMEs, for wider consideration within CCAMLR, to improve understanding and facilitate clarity of communication in addressing VME issues.

High resolution VME taxa bycatch data (at the longline segment level) has been collected for two fishing seasons, with 4728 longline segments observed. Several regions with consistent presence of sponge and/or gorgonian bycatch are identifiable, as are several areas of dense fishing effort with no evidence of sponge or gorgonian presence. Identifiable sponge and/or gorgonian habitats occurred at a typical scale of 10-30 km², though some sponge habitats appeared larger. Spatial analysis of these data allows the detectability of sponges and gorgonian corals to be estimated, along with changes in catch rate at different densities. Results indicate that sponge patches are detected more than 70% of the time when present, and gorgonian patches are detected more than 60% of the time. Video transects on the Ross Sea slope from New Zealand’s 2008 IPY voyage provided data on the fine scale distributions (i.e. < 600 m) of sponges, stony corals, and ascidians. The prevalence of sponge and gorgonian habitats also varies among four benthic bioregions developed for the Ross Sea. Together, the data show that sponges and other vulnerable taxa occur in complex mosaic patterns of small patches dispersed within larger habitats. Confirmation of these results is necessary using independent methods such as underwater video and would provide a method to link bycatch observations to habitat density on the seafloor.

Accurate estimation of the true impact of bottom fishing on vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) requires knowledge of the distribution of those communities relative to the fishing footprint. If high target fish catch rates are associated with habitats where VMEs are found, impacts from fishing would be higher than if VMEs are distributed randomly with respect to fishing locations. This study used the catch of the six most common vulnerable invertebrate taxa reported by observers on New Zealand vessels during the 2009/10 Ross Sea longline fisheries to correlate toothfish catch rates and benthic invertebrate catch rates at a longline segment level. Analysis of the data available showed no evidence that the presence of any of six VME taxa was related to Antarctic toothfish catch at the scale of a longline segment, approximately 1.2 km. This supports conclusions of previous work finding no relationship between total VME taxa weight and toothfish catch at the scale of a longline set, up to 10km. Our data were too limited for a robust comparison among fishing areas. Further studies at intermediate scales (10–100 km) would be useful to determine if both toothfish and individual VME taxa have regionally concentrated distributions showing a high degree of spatial overlap.