The Delegation of Germany presents to the Scientific Committee the scientific background in support of the development of a marine protected area (MPA) in the Weddell Sea planning area. In accordance with the recommendations by WG-EMM-14 (SC-CAMLR-XXIII, Annex 6), this was done in three separate documents (Part A-C). SC-CAMLR-XXXV/BG/11 (Part A) sets out the general context of the establishment of CCAMLR-MPAs and provides the background information on the Weddell Sea MPA (WSMPA) planning area; SC-CAMLR-XXXV/BG/12 (Part B) informs on the data retrieval process and SC-CAMLR-XXXV/BG/13 (Part C) describes the methods and the results of the scientific analyses as well as the development of the objectives and finally of the borders for the WSMPA.
Earlier versions of Parts A-C were already presented at the meetings of EMM in 2015 and 2016 and SC-CAMLR in 2015. At the CCAMLR meeting in 2015 the Scientific Committee did recognise that the body of science of the background documents provides the necessary foundation for developing a WSMPA proposal (SC-CAMLR-XXXIV, § 5.11), which is being submitted separately to 35th meeting of the CAMLR Commission.
Here, the Delegation of Germany presents to the Scientific Committee the final version of Part B that provides a systematic overview of the environmental (chapter 1) and ecological data sets (chapter 2) acquired for the WSMPA planning. Part B has been further revised in the light of comments received at the above mentioned meetings. Final additions in the 2015/16 intersessional period include some newly acquired data sets on e.g. seabirds and demersal fish.