CCAMLR

This paper summarises the notifications received from Members intending to particpate in the krill fishery in Area 48 in the 2005/06 season.

This report on the krill fishery in Area 48 has been prepared in a format similar to the “Fishery Reports” developed by WG-FSA in 2004. As reported to the CCAMLR Secretariat, 9 vessels from 6 Contracting Parties are fishing for krill in Area 48 in the 2004/05 season, and these vessels have taken 62049 t of krill to date. Two CCAMLR scientific observers have been deployed. The preliminary estimate of the total catch of krill for the season is approx 142000 t. This compares with 118166 t of krill reported in 2003/04. One monthly catch and effort report is overdue for 2004/05, and some fine-scale data are overdue for 2003/04.
The report includes: Availability of fishery and observer data; Time series of catch by season, Contracting Party and small-scale management unit; Species composition of by-catch; Occurrence of incidental catches of seabirds and mammals; Development of measures of overlap between the krill fishery and krill predators; Consideration of the Conservation Measures in force in the fishery. Reference information on stock and areas, and parameters used in stock assessment is also included.

The CCAMLR Ecosystem Monitoring Program (CEMP) uses indices derived from data on indicator species collected by standard methods within the three Integrated Study Regions of the Convention Area. Each year the Secretariat updates the standardised index values and provides a summary of trends and anomalies in these data. In addition, developments during the intersessional period are reported.

The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) is bound by its Article II, 3 to follow an ecosystem approach to management. This approach has been extended to the application of a precautionary approach in the late 1980’s. In our review we deal primarily with the science–related aspects of CCAMLR and its development towards an ecosystem approach to the management of the living resources of the Southern Ocean. To assist the Commission in meeting objectives, as set out in Article II, 3, the Scientific Committee established the CCAMLR Ecosystem Monitoring Program to detect possible effects of krill fishing on the performance of top level predators, such as albatrosses, penguins, petrels, fur seals. Fisheries in the Southern Ocean followed the fate of other fisheries worldwide in that target species were depleted to low level one after the other. Currently, two types of fisheries are open: the longline fisheries on Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) and Antarctic toothfish (D. mawsoni) and the trawl fisheries on mackerel icefish (Champsocephalus gunnari). Both fisheries are managed in a single species context, however, with conservation measures in place to protect by – catch species, such as rattails (Macrouridae) and skates and rays (Rajidae). Two major problems still exist in fisheries in the Southern Ocean: the by – catch of birds in longline fisheries primarily in the Indian Ocean and the high level of IUU fishing again in the Indian Ocean. Both, the by – catch of birds and high IUU catches undermine the credibility of CCAMLR to safeguard the marine living resources in the Southern Ocean.