To ensure vessels fishing in the Convention Area comply with conservation measures, CCAMLR implements a System of Inspection. CCAMLR’s System of Inspection was established in 1989 to support the comprehensive inspections of vessels by Contracting Parties. The System of Inspection provides for:
CCAMLR implements a range of measures to support the conservation and management of Antarctic marine living resources. These measures seek to minimise the impact harvesting activities may have on the sustainability of target species, on species taken incidentally as by-catch and on the marine ecosystems.
CCAMLR seeks to ensure compliance with conservation measures in force through a range of fisheries monitoring and compliance tools, including the Catch Documentation Scheme (CDS) for Dissostichus spp. (toothfish).
To participate in fishing activities inside the Convention Area, Members must issue a licence, permit or authorisation to their flagged vessels detailing the specific areas, species and time periods for which fishing is authorised.
A monitoring program of demersal fish in inshore sites of the South Shetland Islands has continued in Potter Cove from 1991 to 1998, covering a continuous sampling period of 15 years and in Harmony Cove, Nelson Island, in the austral summer 1995/96. The decline in trammel net catches of fjord fishes of the species Notothenia rossii and Gobionotothen gibberifrons in relation to the non commercially fished Notothenia coriiceps, which was already reported for the period 1983-1990 in a previous study, is still evident. These results are supported by our knowledge on the diet of the piscivorous Antarctic shag Phalacrocorax bransfieldensis in the South Shetland/Antarctic Peninsula area in this decade. The most likely explanation for the decrease in recruitment to the inshore sub-populations of N. rossii and G. gibberifrons in the last 15 years is the effect of the offshore commercial fishery in the area in the late 1970s. This interpretation is consistent with the information on the historical offshore commercial fishing and with the results of scientific surveys in the area.
