CCAMLR

In late 2012 SCAR, BirdLife and BAS developed a successful proposal (to the UK Darwin Plus Fund) to build an integrated database that would facilitate the analysis of penguin tracking data. The database will have a web-based user interface that will allow data holders to submit data and attach a range of access levels; access may be granted only to the data holder, to a wider group, or to a general public domain. A penguin database (built along analogous lines and interoperable with the BirdLife Global Procellariiform Tracking Database) will allow spatial analyses to be undertaken that will help inform a variety of CCAMLR analyses, including work on the development of a variety of feedback management approaches for the krill fishery, and work on the spatial planning processes needed for identifying candidate CCAMLR MPAs.

Southern ocean processes are intimately linked to some of the most pressing challenges faced by society today: climate change, ocean acidification and the sustainable management of marine resources. To address these challenges we need to improve our understanding of the natural causes and consequences of Southern Ocean change. Sustained observations, which can only be large enough and maintained through international collaboration, will enable us to measure the baseline and future trends in the distribution and function of the ecosystem. The Southern Ocean Network of Acoustics (SONA) represents a group of scientific institutes and industrial partners who have united to measure an under-sampled component of the ecosystem – the mid-trophic level, to agree common standards and protocols for data collection and processing with a view to provide that data on an open access basis.

Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) are a key species in Southern Ocean ecosystems, maintaining very large numbers of predators, and fluctuations in their abundance can affect the overall structure and functioning of the ecosystems. The inter-annual variability in the abundance and biomass of krill was examined using a 15 year time series of acoustic observations undertaken in the Western Core Box (WCB) survey area to the north of South Georgia, Southern Ocean. Krill targets were identified in acoustic data using a multi-frequency identification window and converted to krill density using the Stochastic Distorted Wave Born Approximation (SDWBA) target strength model. The density of krill within 500 m resets ranged several orders of magnitude (0 to 10 000 gm^-2) and its distribution was highly skewed with many zero observations. Within each survey the mean krill density was significantly correlated with the top 7% of the maximum reset densities observed. Hence, only the densest krill swarms detected in any one year were driving the mean krill density estimates for the WCB in that year. WCB krill density (µ, mean density for the area) showed several years of moderate to high values (µ > 30 gm^-2) interspersed with years (1999-2000, 2004, 2009-2010) of very low density (µ < 30 gm^-2).
 

The ICED programme is investigating how climate change might impact Southern Ocean ecosystems in order to help inform management of Southern Ocean fisheries. ICED will convene a workshop and conference session in the near future in order to address these issues. The theme of the November 2013 workshop is “Southern Ocean food webs and scenarios of change”, and that of the June 2014 conference session is “Detecting, projecting and managing the impacts of change in Southern Ocean ecosystems”. We encourage scientists that contribute to CCAMLR to participate in these activities with a view to improving the basis for future monitoring and management of Southern Ocean ecosystems.

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.