Following the submission of a first draft Conservation Measure for establishing a MPA in the Weddell Sea (WSMPA) to CCAMLR 2016, Germany has carried out further work on the WSMPA proposal and the EU has submitted a revised CM proposal to CCAMLR 2018.
This document is based on similar documents submitted to WG SAM 2018 and the CCAMLR Workshop on Spatial Management (WS-SM-18). It intends to inform the Scientific Committee about the following revisions carried out to the WSMPA proposal, which would fall under the remit of, or might be of interest to participants at SC-CAMLR 2018:
- Unifying the previously two separate WSMPA parts into one coherent WSMPA by closing the gap on the eastern coast of the Antarctic Peninsula;
- Adjustment of the habitat of adult Antarctic toothfish in Statistical Subareas 48.6 and 48.5 because of further analyses and modelling of the habitat of adult Antarctic toothfish;
- Establishment of scientific reference areas in Statistical Subarea 48.6 for monitoring the effects of harvesting on Antarctic marine living resources and for achieving the WSMPA specific objectives.
- Changes to the WSMPA Management Plan and the WSMPA Research and Monitoring Plan, inter alia, by taking into account the outcome of the CCAMLR Workshop for the Development of a Dissostichus mawsoni Population Hypothesis for Area 48.
The document also informs SC-CAMLR about the advice given by SAM 2018 and WS-SM-18 as regards the establishment (number, location and size) of unfished scientific reference areas in the habitat for adult Antarctic toothfish in Statistical Subarea 48.6 (see point 3 above). These reference areas could be used for comparative studies into the potential impacts of D. mawsoni fishing operations on the ecosystems and food webs, of which this species is a part.