Scientific Committee has recognised that in order to maintain its leadership in ecosystem-based fisheries management, the implications of climate change should be considered by its working groups.
The robustness of CCAMLR’s tothfish management protocol, based on the Decision Rule, is evaluated by considering hypothetical, future changes in the fishery - stock interactions and the stock productivity which could result from climate change.
The Decision Rule is demonstrated to be highly precautionary, as is appropriate for the management of deep-water Antarctic species and is shown to be robust to changes in the fishery - stock interactions.
However, the robustness of the Decision Rule, to potential climate change induced variation in productivity, highlights a sensitivity that should be considered by Scientific Committee and its Working Groups. A development of the Decision Rule to include limit or target reference points, based on exploitation rate would ensure that management advice is also robust to change in productivity. The modification could also provide a basis for the provision of catch advice where historic IUU has occurred and historic biomass is unknown.