During the 2017/2018 toothfish season in the Ross Sea, the New Zealand flagged Janas trialled a scientific electronic monitoring system during fishing operations in the Ross Sea region. The integrated system collected video data from three cameras (two at the starboard hauling area and one at the stern gear deployment area) along with time-linked data on vessel operations and location during all fishing activities. The trial showed that 1) the systems performed well in Antarctic conditions, 2) video and sensor data could be easily analysed to understand fishing activities (including understanding of hauling stoppages due to technical issues and/or broken lines, and 3) automated procedures can be developed to supplement and assist with scientific observation. This type of system has the potential to assist in improving the accuracy of data recording by observers, as well as allowing observers more time for biological and other sampling by reducing the time spent on tasks such as line setting observations, and determining species mix and size compositions.

Main two methods, which are used for the estimation of abundance/stocks of toothfish in the Antarctic marine areas, are the method based on tag recaptures and the method grounding on the CPUE data. But calculation of toothfish abundance with using these methods demands a number of assumptions, which sometimes broaden too much the possible values of the calculated parameters. The authors present a method approach concerning possible use of a bottom trawl survey to estimate a minimum guaranteed toothfish abundance value on a designated marine area. This provide a valuable reference data, which can be used to assess a direct indicative catchability of longlines.

This paper provides a summary of research projects and activities led by New Zealand researchers that are relevant to spatial planning, monitoring and research in relation to the Ross Sea region Marine Protected Area. The inventory includes: (1) research to establish “baseline” environmental and ecological conditions in the Ross Sea region; (2) “process-based” research to understand environmental and ecological processes and interactions; (3) modelling, assessment and simulation research related to the fishery for Antarctic toothfish in the Ross Sea region. The intention of this paper is to present the information so that it is useful to researchers in three ways. First, to help researchers to identify existing (historical) New Zealand data for retrospective analysis. Second to identify New Zealand scientists and research expertise to facilitate new collaborative research internationally. Third, to identify upcoming (future) research activities so that possibilities for international collaboration are maximised.

The research and management plan for the Ross Sea region MPA is currently under development. That plan will identify key research questions that aid in assessing the MPA’s efficacy in achieving its objectives. It may be helpful to have an agreed set of baseline data for key species which indicate the current status of marine ecosystems in the Ross Sea region. These data could then be used as benchmarks to evaluate MPA performance. This paper suggests candidate baseline data for seven key indicator species which were identified in the draft Research and Monitoring Plan presented to the Scientific Committee (Dunn et al. 2017). The candidate baseline data include estimates of the number of nesting pairs of Adélie and emperor penguins per MPA zone, region-wide estimates of the number of Weddell seals and Type C (Ross Sea) killer whales and estimates of the mean densities of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba), crystal krill (E. crystallorophias) and Antarctic silverfish (Pleuragramma antarcticum) per MPA Zone. We invite Members to contribute any additional data they may have, particularly for species where the candidate baseline data presented here are spatially restricted.

During the 1995 and 1996 summer seasons the foraging patterns of the Antarctic Shag Phalacrocorax bransfieldensis were studied by direct observation on individuals breeding at Harmony Point, Nelson Island, South Shetland Islands. During pre-laying and incubation individuals of both sexes usually foraged once a day, females early in the morning and males when their partners returned to their nests. Compared to  those periods, when rearing chicks parents incremented the number of daily foraging  trips, usually alternating the time at sea, and reduced their duration. Rearing individuals  responded to increasing energy requirements at the nests (i.e. as chicks grew older or at  increasing number of chicks at the nests) by incrementing the number of daily foraging  trips and the daily time invested in foraging activities. The information obtained suggests  that Antarctic shags invest time in activities which lead them buffer variable food  abundance or energy requirements at the nests. The possibility of using the foraging  parameters considered in this study in ecosystem monitoring programmes is discussed.

In order to understand interspecific trophic relationships among top predators, we analyzed diet information on nine bird and two seal species collected in the austral summer from 1996 to 2000 at South Orkney Islands. Overall, the diet of most of the predators was mainly composed of krill, fish or penguins. The re-occurrence of prey among predators was intermediate and ranged from 25.3 to 36.7 and fish, krill and squid re-occurred most  frequently. The re-occurrence of fish among predator pairs was low and ranged from 8.1 to 28.1. The species that re-occurred most frequently were the nototheniids Gobionotothen gibberifrons, Nototheniops nudifrons and Nototheniops nybelini, and the myctophid Electrona antarctica. Prey overlap was greatest between Chinstrap and Adélie penguins. Most predator pairs had high overlap of fish prey. Predators that could forage on demersal or water column prey had yearly variable diets. This variability may be explained by fluctuations in krill availability. In years when krill is scarce (e.g. 2000), these predators can diversify their diet by increasing the consumption of fish, which increases the re-occurrence of these preys in the diets. Our samples suggest the recovery of G. gibberifrons stocks around the South Orkney Islands and draw the attention to the potential  increase of interspecific food competition among predators under scenarios of decreasing krill availability.

Antarctic Krill, Euphausia superba, is the key species of the Southern Ocean ecosystem. Earlier analysis suggested decrease in krill abundance by 50% since the mid 1970’s to early 2000’s in the Southwest Atlantic Sector, which has been specifically linked to a decrease in extent and duration of sea-ice coverage. More recent studies suggest more complex and/or dynamic nature of krill population trajectory as well as its link with decadal climatic events.

Krill population dynamics is thought to be strongly linked to sea ice, and their reproductive output and recruitment success been related to extent, timing and the duration of winter sea ice cover. The underside structures of sea ice are generally thought to provide good feeding ground as well as nursery grounds for overwintering larvae.

How will changing sea ice dynamics affect krill life history, their dynamics, and their distribution? This is a fundamental question for designing our future management approach for the krill fishery.

The intention of this paper is to provide the Working Group with a summary of our recent efforts published last year to improve the mechanistic understanding of the interaction between krill larvae and sea ice (WG-EMM-18/P04 and P05).

Following the submission of a first draft Conservation Measure for establishing a MPA in the Weddell Sea (WSMPA) to CCAMLR 2016, Germany has carried out further work on the WSMPA proposal with a view for a revised CM proposal to be submitted by the EU to CCAMLR 2018.

This document informs SAM about the following revisions carried out to the WSMPA proposal which would fall under the remit of SAM or might be of interest to participants at SAM 2018:

1. Unifying the previously two separate WSMPA parts into one coherent WSMPA by closing the gap on the eastern coast of the Antarctic Peninsula;
2. Adjustment of the habitat of adult Antarctic toothfish in statistical areas 48.6 and 48.5 as a result of further analyses and modelling of the habitat of adult Antarctic toothfish;
3. Establishment of scientific reference areas in statistical subarea 48.6 for monitoring the effects of harvesting on Antarctic marine living resources;
4. Changes to the WSMPA Management Plan and the WSMPA Research and Monitoring Plan, inter alia, by taking into account the outcome of the CCAMLR Workshop for the Development of a D. mawsoni Population Hypothesis for Area 48.

The document also seeks the advice of SAM 2018 as regards the design of the fisheries research zone (FRZ) foreseen in the draft WSMPA Conservation Measure and the establishment (number, location and size) of unfished scientific reference areas in the habitat for adult Antarctic toothfish in statistical subarea 48.6 (see point 3 above), which could be used for comparative studies into the potential impacts of D. mawsoni fishing operations on the ecosystems and food webs, of which this species is a part.

Casal2 (pronounced Casal-two) has replaced CASAL, New Zealand’s integrated fish stock assessment pack-age since 2002. Casal2 replicates most of CASAL’s functions such as many stocks, fisheries, and areas; age-or length-based dynamics; the use of several data sources (e.g., abundance indices, age frequencies, andtagging), but it has been extended into a generalised modelling tool and it uses more efficient program-ming practices and tools than CASAL. CASAL has enabled a more efficient use of resources for stockassessments, such as allowing a wider range of staff to conduct assessments, helped communicationbetween members of the Assessment Working Groups, enabling a focus on fits of the models and modelstructure since standardised methods meant that model components were known and rigorous testingensured confidence that the code base was validated. Design decisions taken at an early stage in CASAL’sdevelopment now limit its expansion. Re-coding CASAL was New Zealand’s best option to retain the ben-efits of CASAL and to control its own destiny over progress in new stock assessment techniques, such aseasy use in management strategy evaluations. We have replicated many CASAL assessments successfullyand so will release the first version of Casal2 in 2016 as an open source package under the GPL-2.0 licence. A pre-release download of an executable,draft manual, examples, and source code are available from ftp://ftp.niwa.co.nz/Casal2/windows/Casal2.zip.

The Casal2 software implements an updated generalised age-structured marine population model that allows more flexibility in specifying the population dynamics, parameter estimation, and model outputs than CASAL. Models are built with user-defined categories such as area, sex and maturity. These structural elements are generic and not predefined (as they are in CASAL), but are easily constructed. Casal2 models can be used for a single population with a single anthropogenic event (i.e., a single fishery), or for multiple species and populations, areas, and/or anthropogenic or exploitation methods.

Casal2 is open-source and is available at https://github.com/NIWAFisheriesModelling/Casal2

Initial comparisons of CASAL and Casal2 show that these programs provide the same stochastic results, and identical empirical results for estimation of key productivity parameters. We invite Members to test Casal2 on their stock assessments and / or on simulation data. Any issues should be registered through the github website. We also suggest that one or multiple assessments of toothfish be included in the Casal2 unit-testing.