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Summary

INDICATOR DEFINITION
Annual legal and estimated illegal catch in tonnes of fish and marine invertebrates reported harvested in the CCAMLR area.

TYPE OF INDICATOR
There are three types of indicators used in this report:
1.Describes the CONDITION of important elements of a system;
2.Show the extent of the major PRESSURES exerted on a system;
... 3.Determine RESPONSES to either condition or changes in the condition of a system.

This indicator is one of: CONDITION AND PRESSURE

RATIONALE FOR INDICATOR SELECTION
The extent of the removal of indigenous organisms from the wild is a measure of the pressure of such activities on biological diversity. Harvesting reduces population sizes and may change the demographic characteristics of populations, affecting fecundity and rates of recruitment.

Collating the catches of target and bycatch species from the legal fisheries, and to the extent possible from the illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fisheries, will enable management agencies to monitor trends in the fisheries and identify when new species or areas are being targeted. This will act as a prompt for management agencies to assess the impacts of these activities on the species directly affected, and in a wider sense on the ecosystem of which they are a part, in accordance with Australia's commitment to the principles of Article II of the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR). Any such trends observed will also need to be considered from a planning and policy perspective.

Harvesting wild animals reduces the size of their populations and changes their demographic characteristics. The extent of this removal of organisms is a measure of the pressure that such activities exert on the populations and is necessary baseline information in deciding the sustainability of the harvesting.

DESIGN AND STRATEGY FOR INDICATOR MONITORING PROGRAM
Spatial scale: CCAMLR zone 58 Australia has a particular interest in fishing activities in the Australian Fishing Zones (AFZ) within 200 nautical miles of Heard Island and McDonald Islands (CCAMLR and FAO Statistical Divisions 58.5.2 and part of 58.4.3) and Macquarie Island (part of Statistical Area 81). Waters off the coast of the Australian Antarctic Territory in Statistical Divisions 58.4.1 and 58.4.2 are also of interest. These areas will be covered and any additional harvesting activity within their vicinity will also be recorded.

Frequency: reports and data will be collated and reported annually. Fishing seasons for most species are from 1 December to 30 November, so data should be able to be updated in January each year.

Measurement Technique: Data on catches of commercially fished target and bycatch species are obtained by observers on board. Catches from IUU vessels are estimated from various sources as described above.

Data are compiled in tables. A blank value in the table for an area could denote a)no catch, b)no effort made, c)unsuitable equipment to harvest a particular species, d)ineffective deployment of equipment.

RESEARCH ISSUES
Collection of data on total removals of organisms is the first step in estimating the impact of harvesting activities. These need to be combined with research on the biological parameters of the harvested species (age, growth, reproduction, mortality etc.) and fishery-independent surveys of fish abundance before the impacts of fishing can be realistically assessed.

LINKS TO OTHER INDICATORS
SOE Indicator 27 - The annual population of Adélie penguins at colonies in the vicinity of Casey, Davis and Mawson and on Shirley Island and Whitney Point
SOE Indicator 28 - Standard demographic parameters for Adélie penguins at Mawson
SOE Indicator 29 - Breeding population of the Southern Giant Petrel at Heard Island, the McDonald Islands and within the AAT
SOE Indicator 30 - Breeding population of King Penguins at Heard Island
SOE Indicator 31 - Annual population estimates of Southern Elephant Seals at Macquarie Island
SOE Indicator 32 - Fecundity and pup growth in fur seal colonies on Macquarie Island

Geographic Coverage Spatial coordinates   

N: -50.0

S: -67.0

E: 180.0

W: -180.0

Temporal Coverage

Start Date: 1970-01-01

Location Keywords

OCEAN > SOUTHERN OCEAN OCEAN > SOUTHERN OCEAN > HEARD ISLAND OCEAN > SOUTHERN OCEAN > McDonald Islands OCEAN > SOUTHERN OCEAN > MACQUARIE ISLAND CONTINENT > ANTARCTICA GEOGRAPHIC REGION > POLAR

Science Keywords

BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > ANIMALS/INVERTEBRATES

ISO Topic Category

BIOTA OCEANS

Quality

Monitoring harvesting operations in the fishing industry will enable management agencies to assess the impacts of these activities on elements of biological diversity and recommend planning and policy measures accordingly.

Trends in harvesting patterns of species of commercial interest are examined at the annual meetings of CCAMLR. Biological data are also collected by ... observers and these are used, along with the catch data, to assess the yield of particular stocks and to set a Total Allowable Catch (TAC) annually. A similar process is attempted on bycatch species in order to set local and more general catch limits in order to avoid incidental depletion of non-target species.

Estimates of the level of IUU fishing are by definition imprecise. Sightings of illegal vessel activity by legal vessels, arrests of illegal vessels and examination of their catch, civilian patrols of high-risk areas, information from landings in foreign ports and analysis of the Catch Documentation Scheme are all used to arrive at the best possible estimate of IUU catch by area. Using the estimates of illegal activity, CCAMLR estimates the number of seabirds killed annually by these longline vessels.

Access Constraints

These data are publicly available for download from the URL given below.

Ancillary Keywords

CCAMLR ECOSYSTEMS FISHING MARINE STATE OF THE ENVIRONMENT

Data Set Progress

IN WORK

Originating Center

CCAMLR

Data Center

Australian Antarctic Data Centre, Australia Data Center URL: http://data.aad.gov.au Data Center Personnel Name: DATA OFFICER AADC Phone: +61 3 6232 3244 Fax: +61 3 6232 3351 Email: metadata at aad.gov.au Contact Address: Australian Antarctic Division 203 Channel Highway City: Kingston Province or State: Tasmania Postal Code: 7050 Country: Australia

Personnel

DICK WILLIAMS Role: INVESTIGATOR Phone: +61 3 6232 3340 Fax: +61 3 6232 3351 Email: dick.williams at aad.gov.au Contact Address: Australian Antarctic Division 203 Channel Highway City: Kingston Province or State: Tasmania Postal Code: 7050 Country: Australia COLIN JOHN DAVIS Role: DIF AUTHOR Contact Address: Australian Antarctic Division 203 Channel Highway City: Kingston Province or State: Tasmania Postal Code: 7050 Country: Australia

Related URL

Link: GET DATA Description: Display Antarctic State of Environment Indicator 33 Link: GET DATA Description: Download page for Australian Antarctic Data Centre Link: VIEW RELATED INFORMATION Description: Citation reference for this metadata record and dataset

Publications/References

Williams, R. and de la Mare, W. K. (1995). Fish distribution and biomass in the Heard Island zone (Division 58.5.2). CCAMLR Science 2:1-20

de la Mare, W.K., Williams, R. and Constable, A.J. (1998). An assessment of the mackerel icefish (Champsocephalus gunnari) off Heard Island. CCAMLR Science 5:79-102

Constable, A.J., Williams, R. and de la Mare, W.K. ... (1998). Assessments of bycatch in trawl fisheries at Heard and McDonald Islands. CCAMLR Science 5:231-244

Constable, A.J. and de la Mare, W.K. (1996). A generalised model for evaluating yield and the long-term status of fish stocks under conditions of uncertainty. CCAMLR Science 3:31-54

Constable, A.J. (2001). The ecosystem approach to managing fisheries: achieving conservation objectives for predators of fished species. CCAMLR Science 8:37-64

Creation and Review Dates

DIF Creation Date: 2001-04-20 Last DIF Revision Date: 2008-04-10

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