The Amundsen Sea region toothfish fishery has been operating since 2003. The biological characterisation of the fishery showed a truncation of the right-hand limb of the age distribution between 2004 and 2014. Few age data are currently available after 2014. We recommend that further ageing of toothfish in the ASR be made a priority to develop annual age-length keys and age frequencies. We further recommend that catch limits in the ASR be calculated following the trend analysis rules developed by WG-FSA for research blocks (CAMLR-XXXVI 2017, Annex 7 paragraph 4.33). The estimated catch limits, based on the one-year Chapman estimates and allowing a maximum of 20% in the catch limit for 88.2H and research block 882_2 are:
- 882H: 240 t catch and allowing a maximum of 20% change in the catch limit from 200 t.
- Research block 882_2: 288 t catch and allowing a maximum of 20% change in the catch limit from 240 t.
We note that research blocks 882_1, 3 and 4 used the CPUE by seabed area analogy in the past, which has been calculated by the CCAMLR Secretariat previously using the agreed method for research blocks in other areas. We have not updated the calculations in this report.