ACAP presents a report on seabird bycatch in adjacent fisheries to the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources this week

At its thirty-second meeting last year in Hobart, Australia the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) requested ACAP to provide information on the levels of seabird bycatch in fisheries adjacent to the CCAMLR Convention Area.

Accordingly, the ACAP Secretariat and Convenor of the ACAP Seabird Bycatch Working Group have produced a summary of the most recent bycatch and related information held by ACAP, along with the current status of the process to develop a bycatch data reporting and assessment framework to present to this year’s round of CCAMLR meetings.

ACAP’s report to CCAMLR notes that the work is an ongoing one, and that the information provided represents that which has been provided by ACAP Parties to date, and that these data have not yet been further assessed or analysed.  In relation to Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs) the report states that there is a general need to improve levels of bycatch reporting, and in some cases to develop or refine data collection and reporting protocols, so that levels of seabird bycatch and the efficacy of mitigation measures required can be properly assessed and monitored.  The report highlights initiatives that are currently underway to help address these needs.

At risk: birds gather around a Patagonian trawler, photo by Juan Pablo Seco Pon

ACAP is being represented at the Thirty-third Meeting of CCAMLR’s Scientific Committee by its Science Officer, Wiesława Misiak and at the Commission’s meeting by its Executive Secretary, Warren Papworth.

Click here to read of ACAP’s attendance at last year’s CCAMLR meetings in Hobart.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 20 October 2014