CCAMLR

Mitigating the adverse affects of commercial fishing on the environment is an integral responsibility of fisheries globally.  Efforts to reduce bycatch, to exploit previously unfavourable species and to carry out research on associated organisms have increased with time but charismatic megafauna tend to gain priority, despite their numbers being relatively low compared to fish bycatch species.  The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) is widely recognized for its thorough and effective management of Southern Ocean toothfish fisheries, especially in eliminating incidental seabird mortality, but comparatively little research has been applied to the thousands of fish caught as bycatch annually.  Fish bycatch mitigation controls in toothfish fisheries have seen a relatively recent evolution through CCAMLR’s conservation measures but their effectiveness has not been thoroughly investigated. This study explores trends in fish bycatch of exploratory fisheries for toothfish within the CCAMRL Convention Area, from 2006–2013, relating observations to CCAMLR’s conservation measures.  We found a significant reduction in bycatch landings by weight and number of individuals across years, despite no significant reduction in fishing effort probably linked to changes in landings of skates.  Bycatch by weight formed 6.7% of total catch per year, however the number of individuals landed was at times double that of toothfish. Gear type comparisons indicate that autolines catch a greater diversity of bycatch species than Spanish lines and trotlines.

Comparative data on size-age composition and growth of Antarctic toothfish D. mawsoni in the Pacific (SSRUs 88.1, 88.2) and Atlantic (SSRU 48.5) Antarctic areas in 2005-2014 seasons are described.

Stock assessment of the Antarctic toothfish in the Subarea 88.2 H using Peterson method is presented in this paper. Calculated stock value of the Antarctic toothfish in the Subarea 88.2 H is 20649 t with 95% confidence interval ranging from 12475t to 39901t. In 2014-2015 values of potential catch with incomplete taking of 3%, 5% and 10% were determined as 619t, 1032t and 2064 t respectively.

Russian Federation intends to continue research in Subarea 88.2 that began in 2010-2012. The main objectives are studying of toothfish migration from SSRU 88.1 K to Subarea 88.2 A. The survey program was improved in accordance with recommendations of WG-SAM-2014 and intercessional work with CCAMLR country-members in order to unify the data collection plan and methods during the proposing mutli-member research program in the Ross Sea – Subarea 88.2.

Suggestion and comments on changes in basic documents for scientific observers (logbook, cruise report etc.) produced during the inter-session SISO work are presented in the paper. Position of the Russian Federation on development of centralized preparation and accreditation scheme for scientific observers and CCAMLR member countries is amplified here.

Available data on the by-catch of Rajiformes was extracted from the CCAMLR database. These records included commercial catch data as well as observer data. Spatial distribution and biological data was broadly consistent with current literature although there were indications of larger spatial ranges for some species.  The data collected as part of CCAMLR fisheries represents a very substantial repository of information on Southern Ocean Rajiformes; realising the full potential of this data will require a review of the consistency and accuracy of identification of taxa and this might be a useful for a future focus topic in the SISO.