Research plan for the exploratory fisheries for Dissostichus spp. in Division 58.4.1 in 2014/15

Historical catch and effort data recorded by all effective vessels were analyzed using the latest CCAMLR C2 and observer data toward the development of research plan for the 2014/15 exploratory fishery of Dissostichus mawsoni in Subarea 58.4.1.

The stock sizes for five research blocks (5841_1, 5841_2, 5841_3, 5841_4 and 5841_5) were estimated by the Petersen estimator and the CPUE x seabed analogy method using effective data on tagging experiment and an appropriate reference area (Ross Sea) for the CPUE method recommended at the last WG-FSA meeting. The stock size using the Petersen estimator was generally different from that using the CPUE method in each block.

As we proposed at the WG-FSA meeting last year, since we have yet to obtain enough evidence to estimate plausible stock size, and accordingly have yet to estimate appropriate catch limit, we propose to continue the current research operation for at least 3 years with the same sample size as decided at the last CCAMLR meeting in the current research blocks, in order to promote successful stock assessment. On the other hand, we preliminarily estimated sample sizes for 2014/15 using the CPUE analogy method for each block except for block 5841_5 where Petersen method was applied following the procedure recommended at the last WG-FSA meeting. The results of calculations were generally consistent with the current sample sizes.

In addition, we propose to allow flexibility in cases of research operations under extraordinary adverse ice-conditions, as detailed in our simultaneously submitted report on research plan in Subarea 48.6 (CCAMLR MEMBER_Japan, 2014).