BIOMASS ESTIMATES AND SIZE DISTRIBUTIONS OF DEMERSAL FINFISH ON THE ROSS SEA SHELF AND SLOPE FROM THE NEW ZEALAND IPY-CAML SURVEY, FEBRUARY-MARCH 2008

during February and March 2008 as part of the International Polar Year. The main aim of the survey was to carry out a Census of Antarctic Marine Life in this regionfocussing on sampling the pelagic and benthic habitats on the shelf, slope, abyss, and seamounts in the Ross Sea region (CCAMLR Subarea 88.1). The shelf and slope were stratified by depth and at least three random trawls completed in each stratum. The trawl survey of the shelf area focused mainly on icefishes, notothens, Antarctic silverfish, and glacial squid whilst the survey of the slope area was designed to target the macrourid M. whitsoni as it is the main speciestaken as bycatch in the toothfish fishery, and the most important prey item in the toothfish diet. Biomass estimates and catch rates by station are presented for the eight most abundant teleost species along with scaled length frequencies of those species.