The current management structure in the Amundsen Sea region aims to develop the data required for an integrated stock assessment for toothfish in SSRUs 882C–H. Results are promising for the southern area (SSRUs 882C–G) but yielding inadequate and deteriorating information in the north (SSRU 882H). In SSRU 882H, the current fishery dynamics are likely to generate successively lower catch limits, constraining tag releases and tag recaptures, and failing to index abundance of the seamount complex population. This paper describes a range of options to improve current fishery dynamics and range in complexity of design, coordination and monitoring required, and in the likelihood of success in producing tag-based biomass estimates.
We recommend that:
- Management of SSRUs 882C–G remains unchanged,
- That FSA and the Scientific Committee recommend that Members collaborate intersessionally to develop a management plan structuring fishing in SSRU 882H to better address scientific objectives for a focus topic at WG-SAM-2022.