CCAMLR

In March - early April 1997 biological, oceanographic and geological operations were carried out on the Ukrainian scientific research vessel "E. Krenkel" in subarea 48.2. The similar observations, but in much less amount, were carried out in subarea 48.1.
The preliminary results of biological studies make possible to characterize the krill population state, other functionally significant components of the plankton community.

In 1997 it was 30 years from the moment of launching YugNIRO fisheries studies in the Antarctic.
Two essential points should be emphasized in the ideology and methodology of the studies carried out. Firstly, complex monitoring is their basis: in addition to the determination of the commercial potential of fish species and krill, study of the Antarctic ecosystem with its non-biological part was given an important place. Secondly, development of scientific grounds for the rational fisheries was their essential part.

There have been numerous human intrusions in the Antarctic Peninsula and west of the Peninsula. The region is where many Antarctic research stations are situated, and also where the bulk of Antarctic shipboard tourism takes place. A brief summary of this human history in Antarctica reveals a wide range of real and possible disturbances. Potential impacts from human activities continue to exist–and are expected to increase–because of the growing number of expedition tour operators and of the number of trips being offered. In this context, the soon-to-be-effective Antarctic Environmental Protocol is intended to provide a new measure of protection by ensuring that tourism, science, and all other human activities do not have adverse impacts on the Antarctic environment, nor on the value of Antarctica and its associated and dependent ecosystems for the conduct of scientific research. The Protocol requires environmental assessments to be prepared before any such activities take place, and efforts have begun to create a database and inventory of information that assists in both the preparation and the evaluation of these assessments.

At the request of WG-EMM-97, the Secretariat has revised the draft standard method for index F2 (sea-ice), drafted a standard method for index F5 (sea surface temperature), and begun documenting meteorological data and methodologies which may be used for calculating the draft indices F1 (sea-ice cover viewed from a CEMP site), F3 (local weather at a CEMP site) and F4 (snow cover at a CEMP site).

The fishery-foraging model of Agnew and Phegan (1995) was reviewed by the Working Group on Ecosystem Monitoring and Management and its Subgroup on Statistics in 1997. The review found that the index calculated in that model did not directly measure overlap between penguin foraging demands and the krill fishery in waters around the South Shetland Islands and Antarctic Peninsula, but rather was related to the total amount of krill removed from the foraging area during December to March. The Secretariat was tasked with the revision of the model, including modifications to the model in terms of both adjustments to temporal aspects of the underlying model and changes in the form of the index of overlap. The revised model is described, and preliminary results are presented.

The CCAMLR Ecosystem Monitoring Program uses indices derived from data on indicator species and the environment collected by standard methods within the three integrated study regions of the Convention Area. Standardised index values are re-calculated each year as new data become available. Trends and anomalies are presented for data at hand.