A brief history of toothfish tagging in the CAMLR Convention Area and discussions leading up to WS-TAG-2023

Toothfish have been tagged in CCAMLR fisheries since the late 1990’s, and information from the mark-recapture program has been used to estimate movement, growth and mortality rates, and abundance. Tagging of toothfish from fishing vessels in new and exploratory fisheries started in 2000/01, became mandatory in 2003/04, and continues today. This paper provides a short history of toothfish tagging in the CAMLR Convention Area, and includes a summary of trends in toothfish tag releases, recaptures and tagging rates, tagging requirements, tag types, improvements to the tagging program, a case-control study of tagging performance, and a summary of discussions on tagging practices and issues identified leading to WS-TAG-23. Finally, recommendations outstanding that would improve the tagging program, and challenges for best practice protocols are identified.