CCAMLR

This document updates plans by Australia to conduct an acoustic biomass survey for krill in CCAMLR Division 58.4.2 (the South West Indian Ocean Sector) in January-March 2006. The survey is intended to produce a new estimate of B0 for this Division so that a revised precautionary catch limit can be established by CCAMLR. . The survey will be conducted from a single ship and will consist of 11 parallel transects between 30° and 80°E. The survey design was presented to WG-EMM for their comment in 1995 and suggested improvements have been incorporated into the final design.

At the request of the Scientific Committee, the Secretariat has prepared a single reference document which provides guidelines for the submission of meeting documents to the Scientific Committee, WG-EMM and WG-FSA (including ad hoc WG-IMAF). In the Secretariat’s view, the guidelines would benefit from some standardisation of the Working Group-specific differences in relation to: submission deadline; exception to the deadline; and approach to accepting revised documents. Some changes are proposed to standardise these specific differences. These changes would simplify the procedures which participants to both WG-EMM and WG-FSA must follow. Standardisation would also simplify the Secretariat’s work in preparing information and documents for meetings. The Secretariat plans to submit a similar proposal to WG-FSA for consideration at its meeting in 2005.

The eighth complete consecutive season of data collection at Cape Shirreff has enabled us to examine trends in penguin population dynamics, as well as inter-annual variation in penguin diet, and foraging behaviour. The chinstrap breeding population at Cape Shirreff has continued to decline over the past six years, and is at its lowest size in the past eight years of study, and fledging success was poor compared to earlier years of study. The gentoo breeding population, in contrast, has remained relatively stable and had similar fledging success in 2004as the long-term mean. Fledging weights of both species decreased from last year, and were the lowest average weights seen over nine years. The diet of both chinstrap and gentoo penguins contained primarily adult female Antarctic krill, peaking in the 46-50mm range, continuing a four year trend of increasing proportions of female krill and increasingly larger krill. The diet of both species contained less fish than in other years on average. Total chick meal mass was larger for chinstrap penguins compared to the past seven years of study, primarily in the digested portion of the meal. The interpretation of these diet patterns may be aided by analysis of foraging location and diving behaviour data.

A Management Plan for designating Admiralty Bay and its surroundings as an Antarctic Specially Managed Area (ASMA), under Annex 5 of the Protocol to the Antarctic Treaty on Environmental Protection, was jointly proposed by Brazil and Poland, in coordination with Ecuador and Peru and voluntarily adopted by the ATCPs at ATCM XX (Utrecht, 1996). The document presented here is a revision of the former Management Plan, as required at ATCM XX.

Edmonson Point (74°20' S, 165°08' E) is located in Wood Bay, Victoria Land, Ross Sea, at the foot of the eastern slopes of Mount Melbourne, about 50 km NE of Mario Zucchelli Station at Terra Nova Bay (Italy). Edmonson Point is one of the largest of the few low-lying coastal ice-free areas in Northern Victoria Land and was first identified in the 1980s as a site that could merit special protection.
The site is representative in the sense that a wide range of freshwater habitats is present, and is considered excellent for studies on biogeochemical processes in lakes; vegetation is unusually well-developed and the site is a good example of an Adélie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) and south polar skua (Catharacta maccormicki) assemblage. Edmonson Point includes a Weddell seal (Leptonychotes weddellii) breeding area along the adjacent coast, which is considered to be an example representative of other such sites in the Ross Sea.
Scientific values are particularly high for terrestrial and freshwater ecology: the site is considered especially good for studies on the impact of climate change on terrestrial ecosystems. Because of the diverse habitats and features, a wide range of science is conducted at the site, which makes it particularly good for multi-disciplinary research.
Based on comments and advice received over 2003-04, Italy has now revised a draft management plan for Edmonson Point and it is presented as a proposal for a new protected area. Given the proposed inclusion of a small marine component, and also because research being conducted at the site contributes to the CCAMLR Ecosystem Monitoring Programme (CEMP), Italy also wishes the draft plan to be formally submitted to CCAMLR for its consideration and advice.

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.