Scientific observation was conducted in the commercial trip on the long-liner "Simeiz", operating under the Ukrainian flag, in the south-western Atlantic Ocean outside the exclusive (marine) economic zones of the foreign states (FAO statistical area 41) in the period from December, 11, 2007 till September, 10, 2008. Samples of crabs selected from bycatch during target fisheries for Patagonian toothfish Dissostichus eleginoides were selected on Patagonian slope (subarea 41.3.1) between 42 and 47 ° S on depths 700-2000 m. Catches of Paralomis formosa did not exceed 25 kg per a long-line set. Crabs occurred on depths of 984-1810 m. The length карапакса самцов crabs made 2,1-8,9 sm, the weight of-4-383, average length and weight самцов were equaled 7,1±0,02 sm and 207,0±3,6 accordingly. The carapace length of females varied within 3,0-8,2 cm, the body weight changed within the limits of 12-224 g, the average length and weight of females was 7,1±0,19 cm, and 108,0±1,7 g, accordingly. Sex ratio was 1:1 in the period from April till May, and 2:1 in the period from June till September, males prevailed. Reproduction was observed in crab population: spawning of eggs on pleopods and their incubation. Shells of the most crabs were clean and firm or with a small amount of parasites. The data on the distribution of crabs in area of toothfish fishery on the Patagonian continental slope were given.
Abstract:
For the first time Lepidion schmidti was recorded in the Southern Ocean. Measurements of the examined specimen which the author had time to do were presented.
Abstract:
1. 2009 data have been incorporated in to the catch-at-age based CASAL model for toothfish in Subarea 48.3. 2. Fits to the survey data are good for the early 2000s, particularly 2004 to 2006. Fits to the catch at age data are good, except for 2009 where large numbers of age 7 and age 9 fish are not well estimated. Fits to tag recapture data are also good. 3. Projections made using median lognormal recruitment suggest a long-term yield of 3900 t. Using a recent subset of estimated cohorts suggests a lower yield.
Abstract:
The results of the histological analysis of the Antarctic toothfish (Dissostichus mawsoni) reproductive system, caught in December - February 2005/2006 in the Ross Sea are presented. The morphological parameters, indices of gonads and condition by Fulton have been described. The histological criteria of the assessment of the ovary maturity stages, cytological parameters of oocytes and type of the toothfish oogenesis have been determined. At the maturing of toothfish, ovaries from the stages III to IV showed a slow increase in oocyte diameter. It was obtained that for Antarctic toothfish during the fishing period the individuals with gonads of the late III stage of maturity were dominated. Their ovaries contained two groups of vitellogenous oocytes. The large oocytes of the nearest spawning season with average diameter 2000 - 2200 ·10-6 m have composed 13.3% of total cell number.
Abstract:
For the first time, the investigations on feeding of Antarctic toothfish (Dissostichus mawsoni) from the bottom longline catches in the Lazarev Sea were carried out. The analysis of food composition for males and females in the eastern Lazarev Sea showed that dominant food objects for individuals of both sexes include icefish (Chionobathyscus dewitti), Antarctic squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni), and grenadier (Macrourus whitsoni). During the investigation period the total indices of fullness of stomach for females and males were 1.68% and 2.25%, respectively. The closeness of parameters by both food composition and feeding activity evidenced a lack of competition in food relations among fish of different sexes.
Abstract:
On the basis of our own data and literature materials, the schematic posters showing spatial and vertical distribution of two toothfish species during their whole life cycle, changes in food interrelations and size composition on the shelf and continental slope, are presented. The comparative analysis of these parameters revealed essential differences in food spectra both at the first pelagic stage of their life cycle and during the period of their habitation on the shelf and continental slope. At that, under the common regularity of exploration of pelagial and then different depths on the shelf and slope Patagonian toothfish off the South Georgia (48.3) has a more abundant food base and its individuals are much larger on the average than in the area of Kerguelen Archipelago (58.5.1.) (Posters 1 and 2). In turn, Antarctic toothfish individuals in the seas of Indian Sector (58.4) are larger than in the Pacific Ross Sea (88.1) (Posters 3 and 4) that is determined , in large extent, by abundant food base in pelagial, on the shelf and slope of continental seas in the Indian Sector of Antarctica.
Abstract:
As a means of testing the accuracy of observer identifications and to provide additional data on benthic invertebrate by-catch; observers operating aboard the longline fishing vessel Antarctic Chieftain were asked to identify and retain all benthic invertebrate by-catch from a recent voyage to Heard Island and McDonald Islands (HIMI) for onshore verification by taxonomists at the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD). Observers displayed a high level of accuracy (89%) in the identification of longline invertebrate by-catch. Common taxonomic errors included the misclassification of stylasterids, bryozoans and alyconarians; an issue prevalent in similar fisheries. This suggests the need for further training in the classification of cnidarians (stony corals, soft corals and stylasterids) and coral-like organisms (bryozoans), particularly as these groups are of high conservation value and are potentially vulnerable to the cumulative impacts of bottom fishing
Abstract:
Catch-at-age proportions can be estimated directly using a simple random sample (SRS) of fish in the catch, determining the ages in the sample, and calculating proportions in each age class. This “direct” method can be replaced by the age length key (ALK) method if there are in addition to the SRS of ages, which have also been measured for length (the age-length sample), a large SRS where fish are measured only for length and tallied by length bins (the LF sample). The ALK method uses the extra information in the LF sample to calculate proportions by age by multiplying the probability by length bin estimated from the LF sample by the conditional probability of age given length bin estimated from the age-length sample and summing over the bins. Since this conditional probability is employed, the ALK method can be used to obtain unbiased estimates from age-length samples that have been collected using unequal probability schemes with respect to length such as length bin random sampling (LBrs). LBrs can be easily implemented by directing observers to sample length-bins for fish to have their otoliths removed until a fixed number of fish in each length bin have been obtained and further sampling from any “full” bins is discontinued for the remainder of the cruise. LBrs ensures that the tails of the length frequency distribution, and thus that of the age distribution, are over-represented in the age-length sample compared to a SRS scheme. Formulae for the precision of the estimates of proportion by each age class are given for each of the direct, ALK_SRS, and ALK_LBrs sampling/estimation methods. Since the formulae depend on the values of proportion by length bin and conditional probability of age given length as well as sample sizes, typical values were generated to allow the comparison of precision. The ALK_SRS method always has a greater precision across all age classes than the direct method, with the difference diminishing as the sampling fraction of the LF sample that is sub-sampled for age determination increases. The ALK_LBrs method is slightly inferior to the other two sampling/estimation methods for most of the age classes that dominate the catch but is significantly superior for the less well represented age classes. For older, mature-age fish this improvement in precision, being important in estimation of spawning stock biomass, may more than compensate for the slight loss of precision for the younger age classes in terms of the accuracy of integrated assessments that employ catch-at-age proportions.
Abstract:
Integrated assessments that use catch-at-age or abundance-at-age data for model calibration require an ageing error matrix as input in order to adequately account for uncertainty in the data resulting from the imprecision of age determination using annual ring counts from otoliths. This paper describes the methods and results used to provide an ageing error matrix to the HIMI toothfish integrated assessment using repeat readings by 4 readers of a set of 203 reference otoliths sampled from the HIMI fishery. The methods of sampling, preparing, reading, and modelling random reader error for this reference set of otoliths is described. A total of 933 readings were taken and errors were defined as the nearest integer (NI) value deviations, denoted as integer errors (IE), from the mean age for an individual otolith. Since the true age of the fish is unknown, only imprecision and relative differences between readers could be quantified. Linear mixed model analyses indicated that the mean IE ranged between readers only slightly (+/- 0.27 yr) whereas frequencies of random IEs, treated as classes, between readings were relatively high for +/-1 yr relative to the zero IE frequency, and less so for the +/-2 yr and greater classes. These frequencies depend on the readability score of the otolith and its average age and were modelled in two stages. In the first stage the frequency of the absolute value of IE, the AIE, considered as 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 yr and greater, classes for each of the 4 readability classes and 7 aggregate age classes were modelled using continuation ratios and predicted proportions in each AIE class obtained for a given readability score and age. Proportions of the AIE 1 yr error class decreased relative to the AIE 0 class as readability improved while, in general, it increased as age increased. To model any degree of asymmetry in IEs, a binomial/logistic model of the proportion of non-zero IEs that were negative was fitted for given readability and age. This probability decreased from around 0.6 to 0.3 for ages 5 and 21 yr respectively, but did not depend on readability. The construction of the ageing error matrix is described and combines the modelled probabilities for AIE and negative IE while taking into account logical constraints. This two stage approach makes efficient use of the data since only half the number of combinations of error class by readability by age class are required compared to modelling IE classes directly. This approach differs from other studies of ageing error in that it takes into account the otolith readability score and the integer nature of ring count data.
Abstract:
The integrated assessment of Patagonian toothfish, Dissostichus eleginoides, for the Heard and McDonald Islands (Division 58.5.2) was updated by replacing catch-at-length proportions from commercial catches with catch-at-age proportions by applying age length keys (ALKs) to gear- type/ground (i.e. sub-fishery) and year-specific length frequency (LF) data. A Poisson log-linear (contingency-type) analysis of the age-length frequency data suggested that ALKs could be pooled across sub-fisheries without significant loss of information. Pooling the ALKs in this way meant that all commercial catch data could be input to CASAL as catch-at-age proportions except for the 2009 catches. For 2006 and 2007 random stratified trawl surveys, ALKs were used to convert abundance-at-length to abundance-at-age data. Effective sample sizes for the commercial catch-at-age proportions, assuming a multinomial distribution, and the coefficient of variation (CV) for the abundance-at-age, assuming a lognormal distribution, each took into account uncertainty due to haul-level variability in catch-at-length proportions, ALK sampling error and random ageing error. CASAL allows a single ageing error matrix to be defined and applies this matrix to predictions of numbers-at-age and proportions-at-age. In other work, this matrix was found to depend on the readability score of the otoliths used for ageing, so the ageing error matrix was calculated as a weighted average of elements across nearest integer average readability scores for sub-fishery by year aged otoliths where the weights were the effective sample size for proportions-at-age. Compared to the assessment that did not incorporate catch-at-age or abundance-at-age data, the aged-based assessment dramatically lowered the CV for the recruitment series, from around 1.8 down to approximately 0.6. The other major differences to the a2-ess model of Candy and Constable (2007, CCAMLR Science 15, 1-34) were that catches and catch-at-age data for additional sub-fisheries (2 longline, 1 trawl) and pot fishing in the 2006 season were included since catches in these cases have become significant in recent years, and the CV of mean length-at-age was fixed at 0.1 and not estimated since the inclusion of age data has reduced the ability to successfully estimate this parameter. The long-term yield that satisfies the CCAMLR decision rules, using a split of the catch by sub-fishery corresponding to actual catches in 2008, was 2 565 t.