WG-FSA-07

The paper presents an estimate of IUU catches of toothfish during the 2006/07 fishing season, using the standard methodology.

Scientific observation was conducted in the commercial trip on the ling-liner «Simeiz», operating under the Ukrainian flag, in the south-western Atlantic Ocean outside the exclusive (marine) economic zones of the foreign states (FAO statistical area 41) in the period from November, 7, 2006 till April, 2, 2007. Fisheries for Patagonian toothfish were carried out on two fishery grounds: “Scotia Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

Mackerel icefish (Champsocephalus gunnari) has been exploited since the early 1970’s and became the target species of fisheries in many parts of the low-Antarctic from 1975 to 1990. Exploitation has been limited to South Georgia and Heard and McDonald Islands since the second half of the 1990’s with annual catches of a few thousand tonnes in each of the two areas. Aspect of the biology and Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

Line setters are used with integrated weight (50 g/m lead core, IW) by some autoline vessels in the Kerguelen and Crozet Islands Patagonian toothfish fisheries to deter seabirds, ostensibly by expediting gear sink rates. A trial was conducted in the Ross Sea in 2007 to determine the effectiveness of line setters in increasing sink rates of IW longlines. Time-depth recorders were deployed along Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

We describe a new fishing technique, called the Chilean system, adapted from an artisan fishery for Patagonian Toothfish. The artisan system was modified to include a net sleeve that is placed on secondary vertical lines, which has practically eliminated depredation by killer whales and sperm whales. In addition to this, each 15 m-long vertical line carry a weight at the end, this sinks baited Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

CCAMLR Conservation Measure 25-02 requires Spanish system longline vessels attach 8.5 kg weights at 40 m intervals on longlines to minimise interactions with seabirds. The weights are collections of rocks enclosed in netting bags. The netting bags abrade on the seabed, rocks are lost and weights become progressively lighter, requiring ongoing weighing and repair. This problem can be solved by Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

A fish biomass survey cruise, named POKER 2006, was conducted during spring 2006/07 (September-October 2006) off the Kerguelen Islands (division 58-5-1), the northern part of the Kerguelen Plateau. The sweep-area method was used in the range 100 and 1000 m with random stratified stations of bottom trawling. Estimations of biomass and abundance are provided for eight commercial species. The Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

This paper summarises the historic effort and seabird bycatch mitigation measures that have applied to the Patagonian toothfish longline fishery in CCAMLR statistical division 58.5.2. It suggests that there is now sufficient experience to show that fishing under the current season timing and regime of mitigation measures poses a very low level of risk to seabirds. It proposes that the period Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

Longline fisheries worldwide have interactions that can be harmful or fatal to seabirds. We report preliminary testing of potential seabird deterrents in longline fisheries around the sub-Antarctic Kerguelen Islands. We compared White-chinned Petrel (Procellaria aequinoctialis) responses to mackerel (Scomber scombrus) baits treated with capsaicin and piperine mixtures, and untreated baits. Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

The Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) recently granted a permit for a trial of longline fishing in the Macquarie Island toothfish (Dissostichus spp.) fishery, which lies just outside the CCAMLR Area. Several threatened seabird species, including albatrosses and petrels have very small breeding populations on Macquarie Island and are potentially vulnerable to interactions with Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

Since the 2001/2002 season CCAMLR has recognised the importance of the high level of hooks discarded in fish heads which ingestion by seabirds, especially wandering albatrosses which are large enough to swallow fish heads whole (SC-CAMLRR-XXI/BG/7). For example, in 2001/02 the scientific observer on the F/V Argos Helena estimated that >15,000 fish heads were discarded with hooks still in Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

Pseudochaenichthys georgianus is a member of the unique Channichthyidae family, which lack haemoglobin. The distribution, length-frequency and summer diet are described from 14 bottom trawl surveys undertaken in the austral summers between 1986 and 2006. P. georgianus (50-590 mm Total Length) were caught throughout the South Georgia shelf from depths of 76 to 370 m, but very few specimens ( Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

Germany conducted a bottom trawl survey aboard R/V ‘Polarstern’ around Elephant Island and the South Shetland Islands from 19 December 2006 to 3 January 2007. Information on species composition, biomass, and size composition of the abundant fish species was provided. Estimates of total biomass for Elephant Island and the South Shetland Islands separately as well as biomass overall were Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

This paper describes the interaction between sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) and the toothfish fishery (Dissostichus eleginoides) carried out by longline fishing vessels operating in two different fishing zones at 40º and 50º latitudes in the Southwestern Atlantic from March to May 2007. 62 hauls were performed in the northern zone (latitude 40º 00’ S), while 41 hauls were performed in Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

The mean mercury level for the D. eleginoides 1998 sample was 0.43 mg/kg-1, which is slightly lower than the permissible level of 0.5 mg/kg-1 set by the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA). In contrast, mean levels of mercury for D. mawsoni were 0.10 mg/kg-1 in the 1998 samples and 0.16 mg/kg-1 in the 2006 samples, both of which are well below the permissible level.
Mercury levels Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

Icefish (Channichthyidae) specimens were randomly collected by observers during the 2005–06 fishing season. These observers were placed aboard three longline vessels targeting Antarctic toothfish in the Ross Sea (Areas 88.1 and 88.2). Biological data from 303 returned specimens was collected. These data included species identification, fish length, weight, sex, meristics, reproductive biology Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

The Third Meeting of the ACAP’s Advisory Committee was held in Valdivia, Chile from 19 – 22 June 2007. It was preceded by meetings of the Status and Trends Working Group on 16 June and the Seabird Bycatch Working Group on 17-18 June 2007. This paper provides a summary of the major outcomes of the meeting.

Two regions of mitochondrial (mt) DNA: cytochrome b and cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1(COI) were sequenced in 9 species of Bathyraja skates from the Southern Oceans and New Zealand. Based on significant sequence divergence, the species that has been referred to as Bathyraja eatonii from the Antarctic shelf and slope is a species distinct from B. eatonii from the Kerguelen Plateau (the type Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

The exploratory fishery for Antarctic toothfish (D. mawsoni) has been operating for ten years in Subarea 88.1 and for five years in Subarea 88.2. This report summarises the large amount of data collected on toothfish and the associated bycatch by all vessels participating in the fishery. All SSRUs in the two subareas except for 881D and 882C have now been fished. The 2007 D. mawsoni catch was Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

1. The catch-at-length based CASAL model for toothfish at South Georgia is updated with data from the 2007 fishing season. The predicted spawning stock biomass and the yield is slightly higher than was estimated last year.
2. Improvements are made to the fit of tag data through (a) estimating a length-based ogive for tag-induced mortality, based on our 2005 survivorship experiment, in Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

IW longlines are effective in reducing the bycatch of birds in toothfish fisheries, but by putting the line closer to the seabed they increase the bycatch of macrourids and rajids. Experiments reported elsewhere demonstrate that some of this effect can be mitigated by the use of fish rather than squid bait, but even then autolines continue to catch more macrourid bycatch than Spanish systems. Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

The UK undertook preliminary trials of the previously described “cone” or “bottle” longline configuration for mitigating cetacean interactions in 2006. This paper should be read in conjunction with the observer’s report of that cruise (Basson 2006). Initial results were promising, and the UK intends to proceed with further, more extensive trials, in the 2007/08 fishing season in Subarea 48.3. Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

1. During the 2006/07 fishing season one UK and one New Zealand vessel fished in Subarea 48.4, catching 54 t of toothfish. A total of 291 D. eleginoides and 1 D. mawsoni were tagged and released during fishing operations. This represents a very high tagging rate of 5.4 fish per tonne of catch. Additionally, 100 rajids were tagged and released.
2. D. eleginoides and rajids appear to have Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

Pilot studies were carried out in 48.3 in 2006 and in 88.1 and 88.2 in 2007 by the Argos Helena, testing 14/0 circle hooks and mackerel bait against hooks and bait routinely used by the vessel (14/0 EZ J-type hooks and squid bait respectively). Catch per unit effort (CPUE) of Macrourus spp. (kg 1000 hooks-1) was lowest with J-type hooks and mackerel bait for both regional trials. Variation in Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

The ASPM assessment of the Prince Edward Islands toothfish resource by Brandão and Butterworth (2006) that permitted annual fluctuations about a deterministic stock-recruitment relationship is updated to take account of further catch, GLM standardised CPUE and catch-at-length information that has become available for the years 2006 and 2007. The assessment allows for a second fleet to Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

Aspects of the reproduction, size distribution, and movements of Antarctic toothfish Dissostichus mawsoni in CCAMLR Statistical Areas 88.1 & 88.2 were reviewed. Based on the presumed location and timing of spawning, and the probable early life history characteristics of toothfish, we investigated models that mimic the drift of eggs and larvae over a 6–24 month period using an oceanic Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

The current stock assessment in the Ross Sea (statistical Subareas 88.1 and 88.2) is underpinned by a tag and recapture programme, based on Antarctic toothfish Dissostichus mawsoni. The tagging of toothfish in this area is a mandatory requirement (Conservation Measure 41-01 Annex C). The Annex requires vessel to “target toothfish of all sizes in order to meet the tagging requirement”. This Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

We provide an update of the Bayesian sex and age structured population stock assessment model for Antarctic toothfish (Dissostichus mawsoni) in the Ross Sea (Subareas 88.1 and SSRUs 88.2A–B), using revised catch, catch-at-age, and tag-recapture data for the 2007 season. The updated reference model resulted in a slightly lower estimate of initial biomass than the 2006 base case. The inclusion Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

The results of the histological analysis of the Antarctic toothfish (Dissostichus mawsoni) gonad structure, caught in December-February, 2004-2005, by longliner YANTAR in subareas 88.1 and 88.2 of the Ross Sea are presented. The morphological parameters and indices of maturity have been described. The histological criteria of the assessment of the ovary maturity stages, cytological parameters Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

Skates are an important bycatch of the toothfish fishery in the CCAMLR area and have been identified as priority taxa for which assessments of status are required (e.g., SC-CCAMLR XXIII 2004, paragraphs 4.172, 4.177 and 4.199). While Dunn et al. (2007) and Agnew et al. (2007) have developed preliminary assessment models for skates, they also highlighted that further information was required Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

Information on CCAMLR fisheries of relevance to the work of WG-FSA is summarised, including availability of data, data-related developments in 2006/07, validation of CASAL files, catches in assessed and exploratory fisheries, and updates to WG-FSA’s Fishery Reports. Additional fishery-related information can be found in WG-FSA-07/6, 07/7, 07/8 and 07/9 (summaries of observer data), SC-CAMLR- Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

The descriptive analyses of the toothfish tagging programme carried out in Subareas 88.1 and 88.2 since 2001 are updated, including data for the 2007 season for all vessels. This paper provides an update of the preliminary tag-release and tag-recapture data that were presented at the July 2007 meeting of WG-SAM by including revised data and data from non-New Zealand vessels that fished in 2007 Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

A preliminary field identification guide to the main fishes caught by toothfish longline boats fishing in the Ross Sea was prepared under the New Zealand Ministry of Fisheries Project ANT2005-02 and was used by Ministry of Fisheries observers and fishers during the 2006–07 season. That guide was revised in 2007 following comments and suggestions from the users and now covers 27 taxa. Mostly it Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

Experiments were carried out on two fishing trawlers to test whether mincing all waste to a paste before it was discharged reduced the number of seabirds around the vessels. The first trial was on a mid-water trawler targeting hoki (Macruronus novaezelandiae), and the experiment on this trip compared three treatments (1) mincing all waste (2) discharging unprocessed waste and (3) mealing all Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Approved By:
Ms Doro Forck (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

Preliminary results of testing of a PIT-D device for autonomous measurements of temperature and pressure at deepwater longline fishery of Antarctic toothfish D. Mawsoni in the Ross Sea during the fishing season of 2006/07 are presented. Diagrams of a Spanish-type longline sink rate at deployment and water temperature on various horizons are shown.

In 2006 the CCAMLR scientific committee noted several features of exploratory Dissostichus fisheries in the southern Indian Ocean (58.4) which gave cause for concern as to the status of the resource in this area, and the lack of a scientific basis for setting catch limits in these areas (SC-CAMLR XXV, paragraphs 4.184-4.192).
In its management advice for this and other exploratory Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

Scientific observers aboard vessels in the Australian fisheries in 58.5.2 have collected Dissostichus eleginoides otoliths since the fishery commenced in the 1996/97 season. This program has yielded data which has assisted with understanding age structure and growth rates of toothfish in this Division. This paper summarises the otolith collection housed at the Australian Antarctic Division, Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

Since the commencement of commercial fishing in Australian waters on the Heard Island plateau in 1997 an annual random stratified trawl survey (RSTS) has been conducted to assess the stocks of Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) and mackerel icefish (Champsocephalus gunnari). The 2007 survey had two main aims:
• to assess the abundance of juvenile and adult Dissostichus Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

A survey of mackerel icefish, Champsocephalus gunnari, was undertaken in Division 58.5.2 in the vicinity of Heard Island in July 2007 to provide the information for an assessment of short-term annual yield in the 2007/2008 CCAMLR season. This paper provides a preliminary assessment of yield for the area of Division 58.5.2 to the west of 79o 20’ E using standard CCAMLR methods. Evidence of Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

Australia has conducted a scientific tagging program in the Dissostichus eleginoides fishery in 58.5.2 since the 1997/98 season. This program has yielded data which has assisted with understanding growth rates of toothfish, small and large scale movements, stock structure and local abundance. This paper serves as an overview of the tagging dataset, and an update to previous summary papers. Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

The results of the histological analysis of the Antarctic toothfish (Dissostichus mawsoni) reproductive system, caught in December-March, 2004-2005 by the longliner VOLNA in subareas 88.1 and 88.2 in the Ross Sea are presented. The morphological parameters, indices of gonads have been described. The histological criteria of the assessment of the ovary maturity stages and cytological parameters Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

Feeding of Antarctic toothfish Dissostichus mawsoni was studied in new fishing ground for this species in the Pacific sector of Antarctic: Amundsen Sea (Subarea 88.2). In terms of occurrence, the most important fish items in toothfish diet were: Whitson’s grenadier (Macrourus whitsoni), crocodile icefish (Chionobathyscus dewitti), antimora (Antimora rostrata), Antarctic jonasfish (Notolepis Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

We analyzed data collected during 2005 seabird mitigation experiments on integrated weight longlines (IW) in a demersal longline fishery for effects on skate bycatch. Trials took place on two vessels targeting Pacific cod (Gadus macrocephalus) over a five-month period in the Bering Sea, Alaska, USA. The skate catch rate was 11% lower on the IW gear compared to unweighted gear. Location, month Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

Fish samples collected through an overall period of 24 years at Potter Cove after the impact of the fishery in the area in 1978-80, allowed the comparison of the variations in mean annual lengths and density distributions of the commercially exploited species N. rossi and G. gibberrifrons with the ecologically similar but unexploited N. coriiceps. The sharp decline in the abundance of N. Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

This paper further develops an integrated assessment for Patagonian toothfish in Division 58.5.2. It updates the model used at WG-FSA in 2006 using data from the 2007 season as well as 2006 data not available for WG-FSA in 2006. It also includes the following refinements: (i) estimation of the coefficient of variation (CV) for length given age, (ii) use of non-informative priors for year class Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

This document summarises the suggestions made by WG-EMM to address the requests made by the Scientific Committee in relation to Scientific Observer Manual. These are establishment and replacement of protocol for fish-larvae by-catch observation, review of priorities for scientific observation of krill fishery, and other minor revisions on the e-forms. This document also contains examples of Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

Analysis of recent commercial catch, research survey and larval data for mackerel icefish (Champsocephalus gunnari) recorded from CCAMLR Subarea 48.3 coupled with historical information indicates that they spawn inshore close to the bays and over the shelf to the northeast. There is also evidence that spawning is protracted and occurs from January through to July. The majority of commercial Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

This is a preliminary report of the results of the 11th UK South Georgia groundfish survey, the first to be conducted during the austral winter since 1997. Preliminary biomass estimates are provided for C. gunnari whilst new information on the winter distribution and ecology of the demersal fish fauna at South Georgia is provided.

The rocks from stomachs of Dissostichus mawsoni were used as a source of geological information about sea bottom. Authors suggest toothfish picks up stones from the bottom randomly, and these stones may be used for geological description of the closed areas of Antarctic shelf and slope. In this respect, Dissostichus mawsoni may be considered as a «dredge» with a wide area of sampling. Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

The most abundant icefish species observed in catches off the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula in the last 25 - 30 years has been the spiny icefish Chaenodraco wilsoni Regan 1914. C. wilsoni has been exploited on a commercial scale from the late 1970’s to the end of the 1980’s off Joinville – D’Urville Islands (CCAMLR Statistical Subarea 48.1) and in the Cosmonauts and Cooperation Seas Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

We describe the process used in the fisheries management system of the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) to minimise seabird bycatch, and the risk assessment methodology developed to assist this. We examine the progress of several Regional Fishery Management Organisations in taking steps to address seabird bycatch. CCAMLR has the most advanced system Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

The distribution, length-frequency and diet of Patagonotothen guntheri are described from 14 bottom trawl surveys conducted on the Shag Rocks and South Georgia shelves in the austral summers from 1986 to 2006. P. guntheri (80-265 mm LT) were caught on the Shag Rocks shelf from depths of 111 to 470 m, but no specimens were caught on the South Georgia shelf. Multiple cohorts were present during Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

The distribution and diet of juvenile (<750 mm) Patagonian toothfish are described from 4 annual trawl surveys (2003-06) around the island of South Georgia in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean. Recruitment of toothfish varies inter-annually, and a single large cohort dominated during the four years surveyed. Most juveniles were caught on the Shag Rocks shelf to the NW of South Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document

Chaenocephalus aceratus (Family Channicthyidae) is one of the dominant species of demersal fish living on the South Georgia shelf where it is caught in low numbers as by-catch in the mackerel icefish and Antarctic krill commercial fisheries. Data collected during 14 demersal fish surveys, from 1986 to 2006, are analysed to investigate biomass, distribution, growth and diet. Biomass estimates Read More
Submitted By:
Admin Admin (CCAMLR Secretariat)

Request Meeting Document