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.

The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) adopted the Ross Sea region Marine Protected Area (RSRMPA) in 2016, which entered into force in 2017. The RSRMPA was established to conserve marine living resources, maintain ecosystem structure and function, protect vital ecosystem processes and areas of ecological significance, and promote scientific research. This report summarizes the types of United States’ research and monitoring in support of the RSRMPA. We identified 480 relevant awards, which funded research throughout the region between 1980 and 2020. These awards cover a wide range of research within the general study topics of Ecosystems, Fisheries, and Climate Change and Oceanography. Awards related to the study topics of Ecosystems and Climate Change and Oceanography were common, with Fisheries awards being less common. Sixty-four of these awards are active or ongoing, with 30 awards originating since the RSRMPA entered into force. Awards made prior to the time that the RSRMPA entered into force contribute baseline data to the protected area. In total, the awards mapped to most of the specific MPA objectives. This paper details the commitment of the U.S. Government to research within the RSRMPA and contributes to a foundation for future analysis of the effectiveness of the MPA for the 2022 scientific review.