The Antarctic krill fishery is expanding at a time when the Antarctic Peninsula is experiencing significant climate change impacts. Climate change and ocean acidification may dramatically impact marine ecosystems and will almost certainly affect krill. It is therefore CCAMLR’s responsibility to enhance its precautionary management of the krill fishery in line with Convention objectives. This paper provides an update on the krill fishery; discusses the consideration of climate change in krill fisheries management; and addresses key aspects of krill research, ecosystem-based management, monitoring, bycatch, and compliance as they relate to the krill fishery.  The paper concludes with a number of recommendations to make progress on each of these issues. Specifically, ASOC recommends that CCAMLR:

• Incorporate climate change information into fishery management.
• Obtain an up to date krill biomass estimate.
• Agree to a detailed work plan and timeline to further develop ecosystem-based management measures for the fishery.
• Review the CCAMLR Ecosystem Monitoring Program (CEMP) to better reflect the whole ecosystem.
• Develop standards for improving identification of bycatch and for minimizing bycatch.
• Develop an accurate and consistent method for reporting catches with increased precision at two-hour intervals.

SCAR is an interdisciplinary body of the International Science Council (ISC), and currently includes 44 member countries and nine ISC unions. SCAR is charged with initiating, developing and coordinating high quality international scientific research in, from and about the Antarctic region (including the Southern Ocean).

SCAR’s Mission is to advance Antarctic research, including observations from Antarctica, and to promote scientific knowledge, understanding and education on any aspect of the Antarctic region and its role in the Earth System. SCAR also provides independent and objective scientific advice and information to the Antarctic Treaty system and other bodies, and facilitates the international exchange of Antarctic information within the scientific community.

Here SCAR reports on recent CCAMLR engagement, recent scientific research of relevance to SC-CAMLR and SCAR activities of mutual interest.

Report submitted by Argentina as CCAMLR Observer to the 6th Session of the Meeting of Parties to ACAP.

Climate change will alter the structure and functioning of Southern Ocean ecosystems, affect the ecosystem services they provide, and therefore require development of conservation and management strategies. A collaborative Workshop between the Integrating Climate and Ecosystem Dynamics in the Southern Ocean (ICED) programme and CCAMLR brought together a range of ecologists, physical and ecological modellers and fisheries scientists to consider the potential impacts of climate change on Antarctic krill in Area 48. The key outcomes of the Workshop for SC-CAMLR include:

• Area 48 is a region of high natural variability and scenarios of future changes in physical, chemical and ecological drivers are highly uncertain. Global climate models do not currently resolve key ocean and sea ice processes at scales relevant to predictions for Area 48;
• The position of the Polar Front is highly constrained and is not expected to change by 2100;
• Under a high emissions scenario the warming and loss of sea ice is expected to result in a reduction in the abundance and biomass of krill in northern areas of the Scotia Sea but an increase in abundance to the south around the Antarctic Peninsula and Weddell Sea. However, the resilience and adaptive capacity of krill to withstand such changes is poorly determined;
• The combined effects of changing sea ice and krill abundance will result in shifts in the distribution of the various krill-dependent species, with more polar species constrained farther south. These changes are also likely to result in substantial changes in the structure of the food web that may occur rapidly as particular biological thresholds are reached;
• CCAMLR would benefit from investment in the development of high-resolution physicalbiological models and improved models of krill recruitment processes, underpinned by mechanistic understanding to resolve recruitment processes during the winter and the role of sea ice;
• Sufficient data are available to underpin the scenarios from this workshop. Uncertainty around the susceptibility of krill in Area 48 to future climate change can and should be incorporated into projections in order to scope potential outcomes for krill;
• Existing models and approaches developed for Area 48 to assess potential impacts and risks of fishing on krill and the dependent predators are a useful basis for developing models that can incorporate the implications of climate change in a precautionary approach into CCAMLR management.

The Workshop noted the importance a joint approach between ICED and CCAMLR to improve scenarios and ecosystem models and develop quantified model projections of ecosystem change in support of decision making for conservation and management.

The CAMLR Scientific Committee in 2017 reviewed the scientific background document SC-CAMLR-XXXVI/BG/28. Germany was asked to carry out further work, in particular as regards the issues raised at WG-EMM-17 and SC-CAMLR-XXXVI (SC-CAMLR-XXXVI, Annex 6, §§ 5.1-5.14). The implementation of recommendations and questions raised by WG-EMM-17 and SC-CAMLR-XXXVI was already presented at the Workshop of Spatial Management (Cambridge, UK, 2 to 6 July 2018), where the great amount of work was acknowledge and the updates were welcomed.

With this document, the Delegation of Germany would also like to inform the Scientific Committee about the additional scientific analyses and implementation of the recommendations carried out in support of the development of a CCAMLR MPA in the Weddell Sea.

Chapter 1 of this background paper reflects on the recommendations concerning the suitability of some data layers for the Marxan analyses. Chapter 2 discusses the recommendations on the suitability of the cost layer developed for the WSMPA Marxan analysis (SC-CAMLR-XXXVI, Annex 6, §§ 5.10 and 5.12) and presents the updated cost layer. Chapter 3 provides a new data layer on juvenile Antarctic toothfish, and Chapter 4 presents a robustness test of the WSMPA Marxan model.

The Secretariat recommends that the Commission make some changes to the Staff Regulations so that the 2019–2022 Staffing and Salary Strategy (CCAMLR-XXXVII/21 Rev. 1) may be implemented effectively. The recommended changes are provided in Annex 1. The background to these changes is presented in detail in CCAMLR-XXXVII/21 Rev. 1 and CCAMLR-XXXVII/BG/02.

In 2018, the Secretariat undertook a comprehensive translation review of all conservation measures and the Basic Documents. This paper provides details about the review process. Summaries of major issues identified in the conservation measures and the Basic Documents are appended, and the proposed changes were available for consultation between June and August. These changes will be included in the next version of the Basic Documents and will be incorporated into translations of the next publication of the Schedule of Conservation Measures in Force, following their adoption by the Commission at CCAMLR-XXXVII.

The Executive Secretary's Report of the 41st Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM XLI), Buenos Aires, Argentina, 16 to 18 May 2018, presents a summary of items of interest to CCAMLR Members.

A Research and Monitoring Plan for the Ross Sea region MPA (RSRMPA) has been endorsed by the Scientific Committee (SC-CAMLR-XXXVI/20). The Plan identifies research questions that aim to facilitate assessment of the degree to which the RSRMPA achieves its objectives. The Plan also identifies a set of indicators that, when observed or quantified, provide baseline data for key species and characterize the status of the marine ecosystem in the Ross Sea region. These baselines provide benchmarks from which to assess change and evaluate the performance of the MPA. Here, and in an accompanying working paper (SC-CAMLR-XXXVII/11), we suggest candidate baseline data for seven indicator species listed in the Research and Monitoring Plan and endorsed by the Scientific Committee. These candidates include zone-specific estimates of the mean densities of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba), crystal krill (E. crystallorophias) , and larval and juvenile Antarctic silverfish (Pleuragramma antarcticum) in the RSRMPA; zone-specific estimates of the numbers of nesting pairs of Adélie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) and adult emperor penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri); and region-wide estimates of the numbers of Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) and Type C killer whales (Orcinus orca). We invite Members to contribute additional baseline data if they exist.