This document provides a summary of progress towards milestones and responses to recommendations from WG-SAM, WG-FSA and the Scientific Committee relating to the multi-Member research plan for the toothfish exploratory fishery in Divisions 58.4.1 and 58.4.2 between 2011/12 and 2017/18.

Table 1 provides a summary of responses to the recommendations with references to the associated outputs in this paper or the new research plan (WG-FSA-18/59). In particular, this paper presents:

• Tag-overlap statistics at the scale of the research block (Figure 1) and the distribution of tags recaptured in research block 5841_2 in 2017/18 (Figure 2)
• Progress toward the case-control estimation of effective tagging survival and effective tag-detection rates (Figure 3, Table 3)
• Report on Milestone 2.2 of WG-FSA-17/18 Rev. 1: ‘Update spatially-explicit habitat-use models for toothfish using data from CTDs and BVCs’ (Appendix 1)
• Report on Milestone 2.3 of WG-FSA-17/18 Rev. 1 ‘Sharing of environmental data with SOOS (Appendix 2)
• Report on Milestone 1.10 of WG-FSA-17/18 Rev. 1: ‘Initial integrated stock assessment models for toothfish within research blocks or across SSRUs and Divisions’ (Appendix 3 and 4)

This paper also provides a summary of planned and actual achievement dates for the milestones of the 2015/16 - 2017/18 research plan (WG-FSA-17/18 Rev. 1). Previous research milestones under the 2015/16 - 2017/18 research plan have been achieved as planned (Table 2). Reports relating to 2018 milestones (1.8, 1.9, 3.1 and 4.3) have been submitted as separate papers as indicated in Table 2.

La CCRVMA ha reconocido la importancia del desarrollo de capacidades de sus Miembros a fin de reforzar su participación en la labor de la Comisión. En esta propuesta se busca apoyar el establecimiento del Fondo de Desarrollo de la Capacidad General (‘el Fondo’) considerado por el Grupo de Trabajo por Correspondencia sobre Financiación Sostenible y se propone un mecanismo, que incluye además el establecimiento de un Comité del Fondo de Desarrollo de la Capacidad General, con la finalidad de apoyar la implementación del Fondo en concordancia con sus objetivos. El mecanismo propuesto se basa en el Anexo 10-05/B, ‘Uso del fondo del SDC’. En consonancia con el mecanismo propuesto, en este documento también se propone que la Comisión continúe incluyendo en su agenda el desarrollo de capacidades para facilitar su implementación por la CCRVMA. Por último, en este documento se propone que la Comisión establezca un Grupo de Contacto Intersesional sobre el Fondo de Desarrollo de la Capacidad General que contribuya a la implementación del Fondo.

Data from tagged patagonian toothfish recaptured in the SIOFA area are not usually reported as there are not a tagging program for the fishing vessels operating in the area. Most of the notified recaptures come from fish tagged in the CCAMLR Convention Area. Eleven tagged specimens of patagonian toothfish (D. eleginoides) that have been released in the CCAMLR management area have been recovered by two Spanish vessels fishing in the Indian ocean within the  SIOFA management area. Information about these recaptures is presented.

Myctophids apparently represent the second largest (after krill) and most widely distributed biological resources in the Antarctic waters, which are the important food sources of top predators, particularly penguins. However, the information on age of those fishes are very limited and inconsistent. Moreover, the data on trophic relationship between penguins and myctophid fishes are scarce, so more quantitative and explicit studies on those relationships are required in order to assess the role of myctophids in the Antarctic ecosystem. Using the otolith samples collected from King and Macaroni penguins in the Marion Island, the present study examined the age determination and precision of age estimation on two myctophid fishes, Electrona carlsbergi and Protomyctophum bolini. The results demonstrated that otolith section can be used to discriminate the fish species. The coefficient of variation (CV) and average percent error (APE) of ring readings on otolith section are stable for E. carlsbergi but decrease for P. bolini between two readers through repeat reading runs 1 to 3. The age structures of E. carlsbergi are 1.0 to 5.5 years and 2.0 to 5.0 years from King penguins and Macaroni penguin, respectively. The age structures of P. bolini are 0.5 to 4.0 years and 1.5 to 4.0 years from King penguins and Macaroni penguin, respectively. Compared to Macaroni penguin, King penguins fed more on small E. carlsbergi and P. bolini.

Antarctic toothfish Dissostichus mawsoni is an important fish species with ecological and economical value and that distributed in the high latitude of the Southern Ocean. The CCAMLR subarea 48.6 is one of an important fishing zone, however, the local population structure of D. mawsoni is unknown in this regions, which hampered the understanding on population dynamics of this species and the management of toothfish fishery. The chemistry in the otolith can often be used to distinguish population structure of fish. In order to understand the local population structure of D. mawsoni in different research blocks (48.6_-2, 48.6_-3 and 48.6_-4) of CCAMLR subarea 48.6. Otolith samples of D. mawsoni (n=32) were collected from those blocks. The elements in the nuclei and edges of otolith were sampled using Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). Using Sr, Mg, Ba and Ca, the differences in Sr·Ca^-1, Mg·Ca^-1 and Ba·Ca^-1 for the otolith of D. mawsoni were examined between three blocks. The results indicated that no significant difference in Me·Ca^-1 of either otolith nuclei or edges between three blocks. No significant difference in nucleus chemistry showed that the specimens that captured from 3 different blocks may source from the same spawning/nursery ground. No significant different of edge chemistry demonstrated that the habitat of D. mawsoni was consistent between three blocks. Significant differences between nucleus and edge chemistry indicated that habitat of D. mawsoni may change with ontogeny and different between spawning/hatching ground and the area that fish captured. Otolith chemistry with combining to oceanography and tagging data may provide more accurate information on predicting biophysical interaction and locating nursery ground of D. mawsoni in and above CCAMLR subarea 48.6.

Spiny icefish (Chaenodraco wilsoni) is an important species of crocodile icefish native to the high-Antarctic of the Southern Ocean, including the Bransfield Strait. The water mass in the Strait is complex, with warm, low-salinity surface waters found in the western and northern BS and colder, more saline waters of the Weddell Sea over the broad continental shelf near d′Urville and Joinville Islands. The local food availability of C. wilsoni may be influenced by those waters. The fatty acids can considered as dietary tracers to explore feeding habits of fish sepcies. So the present study examine the fatty acids composition of C. wilsoni and further explore the effect of waters on local food availability of C. wilsoni. The results demonstrate twenty-seven kinds of fatty acids are detected from the muscle of C. wilsoni, which consist of eleven kinds of saturated fatty acids (SFAs), eight monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs), and eight polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). The significant difference in marker fatty acids of C. wilsoni between the Transitional Zonal Water with Bellingshausen Sea influence (TBW) and the Transitional Zonal Water with Weddell Sea influence (TWW) in the Bransfield Strait. C. wilsoni presents more omnivorous feeding for the TBW region, but more carnivorous feeding for the TWW region.