Quantifying the impacts of ice on demersal longlining; a case study in CCAMLR Subarea 88.1

The effect of sea ice is acknowledged as a major influence on fishing operations in high latitudes but not widely understood in detail other than by fishers and specialists in Antarctic fisheries research and management. Using the toothfish fishery in CCAMLR Subarea 88.1 as a case study we provide a method to quantify the effect of sea-ice on fishing.  We discuss the ways in which ice effects fishing operations and the result of these impacts on fishing such as the time required to reach the catch limit and compression of fishing effort due to a reduction in fishing ground extent in years when sea ice is more extensive. The method is a retrospective analysis of past seasons to quantify the level of impact that ice conditions have on fishing.  Graphical summaries of the last 15 austral fishing seasons are included for reference.