The Pygoscelis penguin colonies census in the Vernadsky Antarctic station area has been provided during 2017-2018 breeding season. The most abandoned Pygoscelis penguin species in the region of research are gentoo penguin, which has formed 14 separate colonies with about 13320 of breeding pairs total and about 780 immature penguins. The Adelie species is much less common in the area and formed 8 nesting colonies with 5300 nesting pairs and 800 immature penguins. Inside of the Adelie penguin species family, there is a significantly higher percentage of birds which not involved in the reproduction process. This fact, to some extent, probably explains the depression of the world population of the Adelie species, which has been observed throughout the area during recent years. The nesting of the Antarctic penguin in the region of research should be considered a sporadic settlement at a considerable distance from the main range. The gentoo penguin colony at the Green Island possibly could be the southernmost points of the nesting habitat of this species. 

We aim to investigate the qualitative changes in the habitats of two most common species penguin populations in the Wilhelm Archipelago Pygoscelis papua (gentoo) and Pygoscelis adeliae (Adelie) penguins in the CCAMLR Subarea 48.1 under the impact of climate changes and krill fishery. To minimize the effect of human disturbance on the breeding success and survival of chicks and avoid disturbance to the penguins, the new method of registration using time-lapse cameras have been installed in the penguin colonies for observation breeding success of penguins: arrival to colony, copulation, egg lay, hatch, and creche, has been applied. This method was introduced for the first time in the framework of international CEMP project “Establishing a CEMP Camera Network in Subarea 48.1”. The project timeline is expected more than five years. The traditional visual observation of biologists from time to time has been used as well. Changes in the penguin species habitat have been observed on the territory of the Wilhelm Archipelago. It was observed that at the beginning of the ХХІ century the nesting areas of P. papua was significantly extended probably due to the climate warming in the region. It was shown that P. papua is more ecologically plastic species than P. adeliae. Well-known that the breeding success of penguins can be used as an indication of the status of lower trophic levels. Future development of the penguin nesting colonies monitoring using the CEMP Camera Network under the CCAMLR supervising will contribute significantly to the real-time estimates of relative prey availability. The results of the gentoo and Adelie penguin’s chronology and breeding success studies might be used in the development of the krill fishery management strategy in the CCAMLR for the rational use of Antarctic marine living resources; (2) to develop a resettlement model to predict the ecological risks due to climate changes for both penguin species.

Nous invitons les Membres et les observateurs à un atelier sur la gestion de la pêcherie de krill des sous-zones 48.1 et 48.2. Cet atelier aura pour objectif général de déterminer comment les stratégies de gestion de la pêcherie de krill peuvent être intégrées et harmonisées. Ces stratégies portent, entre autres, sur la gestion par rétroaction et l'utilisation de zones de recherche dans l'AMPD1 proposée, et peuvent être ajustées sur la base d'avis fondés sur des évaluations des risques et des modèles d'écosystème. Nous avons l'intention de tenir l'atelier parallèlement à la réunion 2019 du WG‑EMM ; les conclusions en seront soumises à la réunion 2019 du SC‑CAMLR.

The present document reflects on a series of documents, comments and suggestions made during the intersessional discussions since the D1MPA preliminary proposal was introduced by Argentina and Chile in 2017 at CCAMLR XXXVI. It also includes the suggestions and reviews (WG-EMM, Buenos Aires, 2017; Scientific Committee, Hobart, 2017) proposed by the Expert Group and the information provided for papers discussed during the recent workshop on Spatial management held in Cambridge, 2018. In particular, this document provides detailed information about the rationalization carried out to each suggestion made during the meetings detailed above, and includes new information about the identification of krill areas, scientific references areas, and other research activities such as those focused on Dissostichus spp. The specific changes made to the D1MPA model since the preliminary proposal are discussed in PART A.

The present paper reflects on a series of documents, comments and suggestions made during the intersessional discussions since the D1MPA preliminary proposal was introduced by Argentina and Chile in 2017 at CCAMLR XXXVI. It also includes the suggestions and reviews (WG-EMM, Buenos Aires, 2017; Scientific Committee, Hobart, 2017) proposed by the Expert Group and the information provided for papers discussed during the recent workshop on Spatial management held in Cambridge, 2018. Thus, this document provides detailed information about the rationalization carried out to each suggestion made during the meetings detailed above, and includes new information about the identification of krill areas, scientific references areas, and other research activities such as those focused on Dissostichus spp. The changes included since the preliminary proposal of the D1MPA model are discussed in PART B.

This document presents the analysis of acoustic data obtained during the austral summer of 2018 as a complement to finfish research in Subareas 48.1 and 48.2 using bottom trawling nets. The acoustic information survey was carried out with a SIMRAD EK80 wide band scientific echosounder at a frequency of 38 kHz and a SIMRAD ES70 fishing echosounder equipped with a 120 kHz frequency transducer. The geographical distribution of krill concentrations and the presence of fish shoals are described in an area of 1,699 nautical miles over the continental shelf and slope (50-500 m) around Elephant Island (579 nm) and South Orkney Islands (1,120 nm). Concentrations of krill (Euphausia superba), the pelagic species with the greatest presence in the studied area, are described, mainly to the north of both islands. Likewise, mackerel icefish (Chamsocephalus gunnari) are identified, forming large concentrations in steep slope areas, mostly around Elephant Island. This species presents demersal characteristics during the day and pelagic characteristics at night. Additionally, some echoic records registered in the water column are presented, attributed to "Other species" of fish.