The Antarctic Ecosystem Research Division (AERD) completed a review of its curent management of the Antarctic Marine Living Resources (AMLR) Program and its goals and objectives for future work in September of 2009. The review was conducted by a panel of third-party experts in the field of Antarctic Research, including Professor Marc Mangel of UCSC, Professor Eileen Hoffman of ODU, Dr, Polly Penhale of NSF, Dr. Denzil Miller of CCAMLR, and Dr. Phil Trathan of BAS.
The review consisted of two days of presentations and discussion covering the extent of research conducted by the AERD. Final recommendations were made in a written Review of the AMLR Program . These recommendations included priority work for the next 1-3 years (e.g., develop an integrated assessment for Antarctic krill), the next 3-5 years (e.g., develop a graduate-student and postdoctoral program within the Antarctic Division), and beyond 5 years (e.g., increase engagement within the broader Southern-Ocean science community).
Additional participants in the review included NOAA Chief Science Advisor Steve Murawski, DOS Deputy of Polar and Scientific Affairs Evan Bloom, MMC International and Policy Program Director Peter Thomas, and many members of the leadeship of the Southwest Fisheries Science Center.
The documents used for background information, as well as the presentations given during the review, are available below:
Agenda and Background Information
Monday, 31 August 2009
1. Introduction -- 0830-1130
Krill and ship data
Finfish and Invertebrate data
Pinniped data
Seabird data
2. Krill and krill-dependent predators -- 1300-1600
Evening reception -- 1630-?
Tuesday, 1 September 2009
2. Krill and krill-dependent predators continued -- 0830-1000
3. Finfishes and benthic invertebrates -- 1000-1130
4. Marine biodiversity and spatial management -- 1300-1430
5. Leveraging resources in partnership with other programs, recruiting and training new scientists, and maintaining leadership roles within the CCAMLR scientific community -- 1430-1530
6. Summary and general wrap up -- 1530-1600
Wednesday, 2 September 2009
-- Further discussions, interviews, etc. as required by the Review Panel; panelists shall also work to prepare their reports.
Substantive Publications:
· Atkinson, A, V Siegel, E Pakhomov and P Rothery. 2004. Long-term decline in krill stock and increase in salps within the Southern Ocean. Nature 432: 100-103.
This paper uses historical data collated from surveys conducted around Antarctica, a large proportion of which was derived from U.S. AMLR surveys; the authors document an 80% decline in krill density that they attribute to a decline in sea ice.
· Charrassin, J-B, M Hindell, SR Rintoul, F Roguet, S Sokolov, M Biuw, D Costa, L Boehme, P Lovell, R Coleman, R Timmermann, A Meijers, M Meredith, Y-H Park, R Bailleul, M Goebel, Y Tremblay, C-A Bost, CR McMahon, IC Field, MA Fedak, C Guinet. 2008. Southern Ocean frontal structure and sea-ice formation rates revealed by elephant seals. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105:11634-11639.
This paper reports on sea-ice formation and maps frontal zone structure south of 60 degrees latitude - areas traditionally with little coverage - using elephant seals, and uses these data to test predictions of an Ocean-Sea-Ice Model (FESOM). It firmly establishes the importance of large phocids for collecting data on the changing Southern Ocean.
· Demer, DA and SG Conti. 2003. Validation of the stochastic distorted-wave Born approximation model with broad bandwidth total target strength measurements of Antarctic krill. ICES Journal of Marine Science 60: 625-635.
Using the SDWBA model the authors show how krill abundance estimates can differ in the Scotia Sea, based on the same survey (CCAMLR 2000). The increased abundance estimate is attributed to the physically based model, rather than the semi-empirical model of Greene et al. (1991).
· Hewitt, RP, CD Jones and I Everson 2008. Reconciling fisheries with conservation: three examples from the Southern Ocean. American Fisheries Society Symposium 49:1681-1697.
This paper presents an overview and discussion of CCAMLR’s management of the krill, icefish, and toothfish fisheries under the unifying paradigm of the precautionary approach.
· Hewitt, RP, GM Watters, PN Trathan, JP Croxall, ME Goebel, D Ramm, K Reid, WZ Trivelpiece and JL Watkins. 2004. Options for allocating the precautionary catch limit of krill among small-scale management units in the Scotia Sea. CCAMLR Science 11: 81-97.
This paper explores a number of options for managing the krill fishery; the Commission subsequently agreed that these options should be considered in future work to evaluate management strategies for the fishery.
· Hinke, J, K Salwicka, SG Trivelpiece, GM Watters and WZ Trivelpiece. 2007. Divergent responses of Pygoscelis penguins reveal a common environmental driver. Oecologia 153: 845-855.
This paper examines 10-30 years of Adélie, chinstrap and gentoo penguin reproductive, foraging and population data from two sites in the South Shetland Islands, and reveals that changes in populations are largely driven by reductions in recruitment of young penguins to breeding populations.
· Lockhart, SJ and CD Jones. 2009. Detection of vulnerable marine ecosystems in the Southern Scotia Arc (CCAMLR subareas 48.1 and 48.2) through research bottom trawl sampling and underwater imagery. WG-EMM-09/32.
This paper provides a rationale for the 28 vulnerable marine ecosystem notifications in CCAMLR Subareas 48.1 and 48.2 proposed by the U.S., and AMLR’s approach for triggering presence of a VME.
· Kock, K-H and CD Jones. 2005. Fish Stocks in the Southern Scotia Arc Region – A Review and Prospects for Future Research. Reviews in Fishery Science. 13:75–108.
This paper provides an extensive summary of biological aspects and population trends of demersal finfish stocks in the southern Scotia Arc region of Antarctica. Much of the data is drawn from U.S. AMLR demersal fish surveys.
· Reiss, CS, AM Cossio, VJ Loeb and DA Demer. 2008. Variations in the biomass of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) around the South Shetland Islands, 1996–2006, ICES Journal of Marine Science 65: 497-508.
This paper presents comparisons of acoustic methods used to assess krill biomass. Results show that patterns in time series can vary significantly, affecting estimates of biomass and temporal correlations between krill, the environment and other biological phenomenon.
· Trivelpiece, WZ, JT Hinke, AK Miller, CS Reiss, SG Trivelpiece, and GM Watters. 2009. Chinstrap penguins: vulnerable monitors of ecosystem changes in the Scotia Sea region of Antarctica. WG-EMM-09/17.
This paper challenges the "pack-ice hypothesis" with new data suggesting that krill declines throughout the Scotia Sea are driving declines in both Adélie and chinstrap penguins.
· Van Cise, AM(ed). 2009. AMLR 2008/09 Field Season Report: Objectives, Accomplishments and Tentative Conclusions. NOAA-TM-NMFS-SWFSC-445.
The latest field season report is a comprehensive review of the accomplishments from the 2008/09 U.S. AMLR field season, as well as the preliminary results from the data collected.
· Watters, GM, S Hill, JT Hinke, and P Trathan. 2009. The risks of not deciding to allocate the precautionary krill catch limit among SSMUs and allowing uncontrolled expansion of the krill fishery up to the trigger level. WG-EMM-09/12.
This paper summarizes modeling work to advise on management strategies for the Antarctic krill fishery; this work has been a significant topic of discussion at CCAMLR for many years.