MARINE MAMMAL COMMISSION - Annual Report for 1995 



ings of the Commission and Scientific Committee are 

 described in previous annual reports. 



The XlVth meetings of the Commission and 

 Scientific Committee for the Conservation of Antarctic 

 Marine Living Resources were held in Hobart, 

 Tasmania, Australia, from 24 October to 3 November 

 1995. The principal results of these meetings are 

 described below. 



[Meeting reports and other information concerning the 

 Commission and Scientific Committee for the Conser- 

 vation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources can be 

 obtained by writing the Commission for the Conserva- 

 tion of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, 25 Old 

 Wharf, Hobart, Tasmania, 7000, Australia.] 



The Krill Fishery — The total Antarctic krill catch 

 reported in 1994-1995 was 118,715 metric tons (mt), 

 approximately 33 percent greater than the reported 

 catch of 83,818 mt in 1993-1994. The increase was 

 due to an increase in the catch by the Ukraine from 

 8,708 mt in 1993-1994 to 48,886 mt in 1994-1995. 

 As in past years, most of the catch was from statistical 

 areas 48.1, 48.2, and 48.3 (the areas around Elephant 

 Island, the South Sandwich Islands, and South Geor- 

 gia Island). 



In 1991 the Antarctic Living Resources Commis- 

 sion established a 1.5-mt precautionary catch limit on 

 krill in statistical area 48. In 1994 the Scientific 

 Committee advised the Commission that a number of 

 the variables used to calculate the precautionary catch 

 limit were conservative and that calculations using less 

 conservative values indicated that a 4. 1-mt precaution- 

 ary catch limit might be more appropriate. 



As noted in the Marine Mammal Commission's 

 previous annual report, the data used in these calcula- 

 tions are more than ten years old. Also, the model 

 used as the basis for the calculations incorporates a 

 number of assumptions concerning the discreteness 

 and productivity of krill stocks and their relationships 

 with krill predators that cannot presently be verified 

 and may be wrong. 



During the 1995 meeting of the Working Group on 

 Ecosystem Monitoring and Management (see below) 

 and the later meetings of the Antarctic Living Re- 



sources Commission and Scientific Committee, U.S. 

 representatives called attention to the uncertainties and 

 the possible consequences if management decisions are 

 based on assumptions that are not conservative and 

 cannot be verified. The Scientific Committee advised 

 the Commission that a synoptic survey of krill bio- 

 mass in statistical area 48 should be afforded high 

 priority and recommended that plans for such a survey 

 be developed. The Commission endorsed the Scientif- 

 ic Committee's recommendation. The Commission 

 also endorsed the Scientific Committee's plans to 

 develop a booklet describing their approach to ecosys- 

 tem monitoring and management in layman's terms, 

 and called on the Scientific Committee to include in 

 the booklet an explanation of the assumptions used in 

 the calculations of precautionary catch limits. 



Effective implementation of the Antarctic Living 

 Resources Convention requires that the Commission 

 be made aware of and take into account uncertainties 

 concerning the size and productivity of stocks of krill 

 and other species being harvested and the possible 

 effects of that harvesting on other components of the 

 Southern Ocean food web. Toward this end, the 

 Marine Mammal Commission will continue to work in 

 1996 with the National Marine Fisheries Service, the 

 National Science Foundation, and the Department of 

 State to (1) ensure that the best available data and 

 models are used to estimate the levels of krill harvest 

 that can be sustained in different areas without ad 

 versely affecting either the krill stocks or krill-depen- 

 dent species, and (2) determine the krill and predator 

 monitoring programs necessary to confirm that the 

 levels of krill catch do not have unacceptable impacts 

 on either krill or krill-dependent predators. 



Finfish Fisheries — A total of 12,933 mt of finfish 

 was taken from the convention area during the 1994- 

 1995 fishing season. The principal target species was 

 Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) . The 

 reported catches of this species were 3,241 mt in 

 statistical area 48.3 (South Georgia), 5,564 mt in area 

 58.5.1 (Kerguelen), and 115 mt in area 58.6. The 

 only other reported catch was 3,936 mt of mackerel 

 icefish (Champsocephalus gunnari) in statistical sub- 

 area 58.5.1. 



The Scientific Committee estimated that the take of 

 D. eleginoides in sub-area 48.3 and the adjacent Rhine 



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