Supplementary data on exploited stocks in Division 58.5.1 (Kerguelen)
The results of fishing cruises carried out from 1986/87 to 1988/89 in Division 58.5.1 (Kerguelen Island) have made possible a review of the status of the various harvested fish stocks. Since 1984, an average annual growth of 36% has been noted in the abundance of the juvenile section of the stock of Notothenia rossii, a species which is at present only fishable as a by-catch. The total biomass of the stock, however, remains very low according to the assessments carried out by the 1987 and 1988 scientific research cruises. The abundant 1985 cohort of Champsocephalus gunnari appeared in the shelf stock and it is from this cohort that the fishery achieved its good results in 1988/89, once the cohort had reached legal catch size. The value of the selected abundance index (catch per unit effort expressed in tonnes per fishing hour) is, however, lower than those observed for the two preceding cohorts (1979 and 1982) in a comparable period. The stock of Notothenia squamifrons shows a very low biomass value in 1987 and 1988. After a continuous reduction in average length since the creation of the EEZ, a slight increase has been recorded recently, accompanied by an increase in the abundance index, following a reduction in catch and fishing effort. This trend could well be reversed by too high a catch in 1988/89. Finally, it is not possible to accurately estimate the stock status of Dissostichus eleginoides because of the lack of recent fishery data.