A collaborative research program has been undertaken by Japan and South Africa since 2013 to enhance data collection and analysis in the subarea 48.6. From the last season (2018/19) Spain has joined the proposal in order to contribute to the data acquisition and to speed up the integrated assessments of the D.mawsoni stock in this subarea (FSA-18/34).

The continuation of the three-member research proposal for 2019/20 season is presented to ensure continuity of previous research activities. Data and investigations about the population structure and various demographic parameters of Antarctic toothfish (Dissostichus mawsoni) using trotline (JPN and ZAF) and Spanish longline (ESP) gears, established tagging techniques, pop-up tags and genetic analysis will provide the basis for the development of spatial population models and assessments in support of management advice. An Integrated Stock Assessment (ISA) of this species is expected to be done by the end of the 2020/21 season.

Additional outcomes of the research include documenting relative abundance of Antarctic and Patagonian toothfish, tagging toothfish for biomass estimation and for stock linkage studies, and collecting information on distribution, and life history of bycatch and Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs).

Visual observations of cetaceans were conducted aboard the Ukrainian krill fishing vessel More Sodruzhestva. Observations were made during December 2018 – to January 2019 in Subareas 48.1 and 48.2. 66 baleen whale registrations were recorded. Whale’s behavior was observed and analyzed.

The Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force (MMPA Task Force) was established in 2013 by the International Committee on Marine Mammal Protected Areas (ICoMMPA), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Vice-Chair of the World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA), and the Members of the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC).

This group organises scientific workshops whose objective is to identify and delimit habitats that are considered important for one or more marine mammal species, and which have the potential to be managed in terms of species/habitat conservation. The identified "Important Areas for Marine Mammals" (IMMAs) make it possible to put in place localised protection and/or monitoring measures, or simply zoning within existing and future marine protected areas (MPAs).

The objective of this document is to present the scientific protocol for the identification of IMMAs and the programme for identification in the marine regions of the world, to the scientific experts associated with the working groups of the CCAMLR Scientific Committee. IMMAs have the potential to be used as information layers in the designation of areas that deserve particular attention in terms of conservation.

Several studies have emphasized the variable abundance of Pygoscelid penguins from different colonies around Antarctica. In this study, the extinction risk of Adélie, Chinstrap and Gentoo penguins was evaluated in order to identify the most endangered colonies under present-day and future environmental scenarios. The extinction risk was estimated for twelve colonies from environmentally contrasting areas, such as the Antarctic Peninsula, Ross Sea and East Antarctica. We focused on the endogenous structure and the response of population dynamics of each colony to exogenous perturbations. The intraspecific competition appears as the most important endogenous factor in all colonies. In turn, the response to exogenous perturbations was rather idiosyncratic and dependant on the local conditions. Those colonies most vulnerable to climate change showed a strong dependency on sea ice extent during the winter, i.e. prior to the breeding season, which directly affects the carrying capacity of the area. The reduction of carrying capacity is mediated by a decrease in food availability and appears as key factor for the persistence of these populations. Based on these results, probabilities for extinction and quasi-extinction under different climate change scenarios were estimated. The most vulnerable Adélie penguin colonies are distributed on the Shetland Islands (Antarctic Peninsula) and at Syowa Station (Eastern Antarctic). The Subantarctic Gentoo penguin colony on Marion Island appears particularly vulnerable and governed by macro-scale environmental variability represented by the Southern Annular Mode index (SAM).

The sub-Antarctic region -here considered between the sub-Antarctic Front and the southern boundary of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) -falls under many distinct jurisdictions, including Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) of several countries, as well as the areas of competence of several international bodies as the SEAFO, SIOFA and CCAMLR. However, in oceanographic terms, these zones appear mostly as a continuum, due to the connecting effectof the ACC. In this paper we review some techniques which have been developed recently in order to trace connectivity and dispersal patterns induced by the horizontal transport. These are satellite-based Lagrangian methods, which predict remarkably well the extent of phytoplanktonic blooms occurring for hundreds of kilometres in the wake of nutrient sources like islands, seamounts, and hydrothermal vents. These quantitative methods can be applied as well to areas under and beyond national jurisdictions. As an example, we show here the cross-boundary dispersal patterns of the water within and beyond the EEZs in the sub-Antarctic. These patterns inform on the incoming and outcoming pathways of tracers transported in the upper layer, like fish larvae and possible pollutants. The high connection of the physical and biological processes and the cross-boundary physical linkage suggests a geographically integrated evaluation of the sub-Antarctic region.