Revised joint research proposal for Dissostichus spp. in Subarea 88.3 by Korea and New Zealand

A research plan for this subarea was commenced by Korea in 2016 and a revised collaborative proposal was submitted to WG-FSA-17 by Korea and New Zealand. This joint research proposal was for an additional 3 years covering the period 2018, 2019 and 2020. It was designed to build on Korea’s previous research by continuing to focus on those research blocks where tagged fish have previously been released on the slope, whilst also prospecting two of the northern seamount complexes and two boxes on the southern shelf, where little or no fishing has occurred. The main objective of the proposal is to determine the abundance of Antarctic toothfish in Subarea 88.3. Secondary objectives are to improve understanding of stock structure of toothfish in this area, to carry out calibration trials between the two vessels, to collect data on the spatial and depth distributions of bycatch species, and to trial electronic monitoring using video cameras. This paper updates the proposal with an amendment to include a catch redistribution mechanism and to incorporate a milestone table as recommended by WG-SAM-18.