Results from the 1998 bottom trawl survey of Elephant Island and the lower South Shetland Islands (Subarea 48.1)

Bottom trawl surveys were conducted by the United States Antarctic Marine Living Resources program in two major regions of the South Shetland Islands: Elephant Island and the lower South Shetland Islands from King George Island to Livingston Island. Information on species composition, catch levels, size composition, and condition are described and compared between the two regions. Maturity ogives were constructed for five species of finfish: Champsocephalus gunnari, Gobionotothen gibberifrons, Chaenocephalus aceratus, Chionodraco rastrospinosus, and Lepidonotothen squamifrons. Estimates of length at sexual maturity and length at first spawning are computed and compared with previous estimates and other populations.