CCAMLR

The Amundsen Sea region toothfish fishery has been operating since 2003. Fishery catch showed a truncation of the right-hand limb of the age distribution between 2004 and 2014 with no further age data available after 2016. We recommend that further ageing of toothfish in the Amundsen Sea region be made a priority to develop annual age-length keys and age frequencies. We further recommend that catch limits in the Amundsen Sea region be calculated following the trend analysis rules developed by WG-FSA for research blocks (CAMLR-XXXVI 2017, Annex 7 paragraph 4.33).

Division 58.4.4b has been a closed area since 2002 (CM 32-02) and scientific research has been conducted with a research plan submitted under CM 24-01 since 2008 by Japan. France joined this research plan in 2015 and a joint proposal was submitted for the first time in 2016 (WG-SAM-16/06 and WG-FSA-16/33 Rev. 1) for a period of 5 years.

Compared to last year (WG-FSA-2019/64), this research plan has been updated with 2020/21 operating details especially the replacement of Japanese fishing vessel from Shinsei-maru No.3 to Shinsei-maru No.8 with same crew and fishing gears (fishing method: Trot system) and the withdrawal of the French vessel Ile Bourbon, which will not notify this year. Furthermore, milestone tables have been updated to account for the postponement of the WG-SAM due to the COVID 19 situation.

In 2009, the marine predator research community was invited to provide tracking data to the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research’s Expert Group on Birds and Marine Mammals. Over the next decade, the Retrospective Analysis of Antarctic Tracking Data (RAATD) team collated and painstakingly quality-controlled and filtered over 4,000 tracks (3 million locations) from 17 marine predator species, studied between 1991 and 2016. This dataset, published in a recent data paper (Ropert-Coudert et al. 2020), includes contributions from more than 70 scientists from 12 National Antarctic Programs and represents the field efforts of hundreds of individuals. An important feature of the dataset is that it is freely available to everyone. The data underpinned a second paper, published in the journal Nature this year (Hindell et al. 2020), wherein the RAATD team identified ‘Areas of Ecological Significance’ in the Southern Ocean, and highlighted the relevance of these areas for management and conservation of the region.

This paper presents a brief update on recent climate change-related research that is relevant to discussion and decision making by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) and the Scientific Committee (SC-CAMLR). It complements the SCAR Antarctic Climate Change and the Environment (ACCE) Reports, initially published in 2009, and updated annually through submissions to the CEP/ATCM. It is not intended as a synthesis report, but a summary of research that is likely to be of relevance and interest to CCAMLR.

SCAR is an interdisciplinary body of the International Science Council (ISC), with a membership of 44 countries and nine ISC unions and comprising an extensive international network of scientists. SCAR is charged with initiating, developing and coordinating high quality international scientific research in, from and about the Antarctica and the Southern Ocean.

SCAR’s Mission is to advance Antarctic research, including observations from Antarctica, and to promote scientific knowledge, understanding and education on any aspect of the Antarctic region and its role in the Earth System. SCAR also provides independent and objective scientific advice and information to the Antarctic Treaty System and other bodies and facilitates the international exchange of Antarctic information within the scientific community.

Here, SCAR reports on recent and future activities of relevance to CCAMLR.

The global biodiversity and climate crisis (IPBES 2019; IPCC 2019) underscores the responsibility of CCAMLR in contributing to climate change response and mitigation, given its mandate to conserve marine life in approximately 10% of the global ocean. CCAMLR must ensure its decision-making processes and conservation measures anticipate and respond adequately to climate-driven changes in the Southern Ocean. In this paper, we describe specific actions CCAMLR should take in the next two to three years to respond to the threat of climate change in the Convention Area, based on the Climate Change Response Work Program (CCRWP) introduced in 2018 (CCAMLR XXXVII/23). ASOC recommends prioritizing the following actions to address the impacts of climate change:

1. Enhance ecosystem resilience through suitable mechanisms, including establishing a representative system of marine protected areas (MPAs).

2. Explore plausible scenarios for changes in AMLR populations over the next 2-3 decades, including methods to evaluate fishing impacts and improve baseline data.

3. Develop and adopt ecosystem-based management for krill fisheries, including regularly updating biomass estimates, stock assessments, and risk assessments.

4. Undertake spatially explicit stock assessment to account for changes in spatial distribution of species due to sea ice changes.

5. Reinvigorate the Climate Change e-Group, including updating its Terms of Reference and updating the CCRWP.

6. Continue to work to identify reference areas for climate related research, including research specified in MPA Research and Monitoring Plans.

An appendix to this paper lists additional actions/responses from the CCRWP identified by ASOC as a priority.

2020 marks the deadline for global leaders to reach marine conservation targets agreed under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). ASOC strongly believes that for too long CCAMLR has failed to act decisively in the face of the climate and biodiversity crisis, and that this year the need and opportunity to act are critical. ASOC recommends that CCAMLR, at this year’s meeting:

1.     Adopt the East Antarctic MPA (EAMPA) with no limit to its duration, incorporating all three proposed areas (MacRobertson, Drygalski and D’Urville Sea-Mertz).

2.     Adopt Phase 1 of the Weddell Sea MPA (WSMPA) and work towards adopting Phase 2 no later than 2023. Neither Phase 1 nor Phase 2 should have a limit to their duration.

3.     Adopt the Domain 1 MPA (D1MPA), with no limit to its duration, including the extension of no-take zones to all areas previously identified as critical, such as the areas around Elephant Island, to ensure conservation objectives are met.

4.     Continue work to establish a representative system of comprehensive, adequate and representative MPAs, with significant no-take areas and no limits to their duration, across all planning domains.

The Secretariat received fishery notifications for exploratory fisheries for toothfish and krill fisheries for 2020/21. No notifications were received for new fisheries. The summary details of all fishery notifications are in this paper, the full details for the consideration of Members of the Commission are available to authenticated users through the CCAMLR website Fishery Notifications.