We provide an update of the descriptive analyses of the toothfish tagging programme in Subareas 88.1 and 88.2 through the 2015 season. A total of 44 827 Antarctic toothfish have been released and 2473 recaptured, and 1191 Patagonian toothfish released and 103 recaptured since 2001. In recent years, most vessels have achieved or exceeded the required tagging rate of one toothfish per tonne of catch in the Ross Sea region.
Tag recapture data showed that most fish are recaptured only a short distance from their point of release, typically less than 100 km. However, a small proportion of tagged Antarctic toothfish have moved long distances with exchange observed between Shelf, Slope and North habitats. The 308 recaptures in the Ross Sea region in 2014 was the highest observed, which then reduced to 183 in 2015, close to the recent average. SSRU 88.2H showed a similar annual number of tag returns despite a 25% reduction in quota for the area for 2015. The research plan implemented in SSRUs 88.2C–G in 2015 resulted in 1 128 tagged fish released, 20 in-season recaptures and 2 recaptures from 2009 releases.