Spatial breadth and utility of circum-Antarctic camera network for monitoring seabird breeding colonies as a tool to enhance CEMP

Over the coming years CCAMLR has a priority to review and enhance CEMP to improve links between ecosystem monitoring and management decisions. To help inform this review, we present an overview of the remotely-operating time-lapse nest monitoring cameras operating around Antarctica. We propose that nest cameras provide a complementary cost-effective tool to ground-based studies that can extend monitoring efforts for some krill-predator response parameters for seabirds and potentially some species of seals. Previous WG-EMM submissions have outlined the use of cameras for monitoring seabird breeding phenology and breeding success, and their potential for assessing inter-annual population changes and standardising population counts made at sub-optimal times. Efforts to validate data to ensure compatibility with CEMP Standard Methods and enable submission of camera image data to CEMP for penguins have progressed. Despite delivering a reduced set of CEMP response parameters and having a relatively large administrative overhead, we reiterate that cameras provide an opportunity to complement and extend ground-based predator monitoring capabilities beyond traditional CEMP studies. When appropriately placed and maintained, remote camera installations expand the temporal and spatial extent of observations needed to assess krill predator population status and trends.