WG-EMM-15

Welcome to participants, overview of facilities, Secretariat’s offices, computer support and Internet access, scheduled breaks and extracurricular activities.

Amendments to, and adoption of, the meeting agenda, assignment of working papers to agenda items, appointment of rapporteurs and procedures for producing the report, and review needs for discussions by subgroups and establish such groups as necessary.

Convener's synopsis of issues that have direct relevance to the WG-EMM and which were raised by the Scientific Committee and Commission in 2014 as well as issues that were raised by the other working groups since the last meeting of the WG-EMM.

Review and evaluate reports on past fishing activities, including information on the composition of the catch, analyses of catch and effort data, descriptions of the fishery, green weight issue, information on the behaviour of fishing vessels and economics of the fishery. Review and evaluate krill fishery notifications (CM 21-03).

Reports and information relevant to implementation of the systematic scheme of scientific observation in CM 51-06. Review of fish by-catch.

Review relevant information and submissions on krill demography, biology, ecology etc. Review the influence of recruitment variability on the calculation of precautionary yield for krill, any new information on B₀. Discussions on the stock structure of krill populations, top-down and bottom-up forcing in the krill-centric ecosystem, observed trends, etc.

This agenda takes up the issues which WG-EMM would like to discuss under what we called 'Fish-based ecosystem interactions' in the past. A broader, rather than region-specific discussions, on role of fish in the ecosystem aiming to allow a wider participation to the discussion in the working group. Issues related to the Ross Sea ecosystem not limited to fish will also be discussed under this item.

Primarily undertake topics related to the first two stages of the revised work plan to develop a feedback management strategy for the krill fishery.

Stage 1 – continuation of the current trigger level and its spatial distribution among subareas.  

Stage 2 – an increase from the trigger level to a higher interim catch limit and/or changes in the spatial distribution of catches that are adjusted based on decision rules that take account of results from the existing CEMP and other observation series

Stage 3 – a further increase to a higher interim catch limit and/or changes in the spatial distribution of catches that take account of results from an ‘enhanced’ CEMP and other observation series

Stage 4 – a fully developed feedback management strategy that is based on forecasts from ecosystem models, may involve structured fishing and/or reference areas, and includes catches up to the precautionary catch limit based on decision rules taking account of enhanced CEMP and other observation series.

Discuss CEMP and WG-EMM-STAPP in the context of the potential requirements for feedback management, including estimates of abundance and krill consumption for fur seals and penguins, foraging models, monitoring data. Consideration for variation in CEMP standard methods.

Discuss the development of an integrated assessment model and related issues in the context of the potential requirements for feedback management.

Discuss development of scientific and survey work conducted from krill fishing vessels in the context of the potential requirements for feedback management.

Reports and materials, any further updates from planning domains and technical workshops, as well as other MPA discussions, ASPA and ASMA issues will be considered.

Consider notification of any new VMEs.

Collate, summarise and organise advice, items of interest and concern, requests for information and guidance etc. that were previously reported under Agenda Items 2 and 3.

Identify and prioritise items for future work, including short- and long-term work items with particular emphasis on suggesting revisions, if necessary, to the previously agreed work plans for the 2015 meeting of WG-EMM.  Consider work required in 2016–2018.

Issues related to Joint IWC-CCAMLR Workshop 2016, and Joint CEP–SC-CAMLR Workshop in 2016, and consideration of topics not included elsewhere in the Agenda.

As at past meetings of the WG-EMM, rapporteurs will draft sections of the report. These sections will first be reviewed by the Convener and parties with strong interest in the topic and then submitted to the Secretariat for formatting, editing and circulation for reading and mark-up by attendees. Proposed changes to the draft report must be made in consultation with the rapporteurs, who will inform the convener and then provide the appropriate changes to the Secretariat. The report will be interactively adopted in plenary, using a data projector and support from the Secretariat.