Case Study 1: Toothfish – An MSC-Certified Fishery - SEAFOOD Ecolabelling: Principles and Practice - page 250

and the Atlantic genetic studies were incomplete. Oceanographic data suggested
that the natural path for egg and larval dispersal from Burdwood Bank (a spawning
area of the Patagonian shelf populations, situated to the west of the Convention
Area - see Figure 11.1) was northwards in the Falklands Current. All surface cur-
rents originating in South Georgia flow northeast. The assessment team concluded
that the South Georgia population was probably a discrete stock (Holt et al . 2004).
Questions over the discreteness of the stock were raised by the objectors and
considered further by the objections panel (Cavalcanti et al . 2004). A study of
southwest Atlantic toothfish genetics was completed in 2003. Unfortunately, be-
cause it had been unavailable to the assessment team, the objections panel took
the view that they could not consider this paper and they created a new certifica-
tion condition. Since that time, results of both the 2003 study (Shaw et al . 2004)
and similar work undertaken by the British Antarctic Survey (Rogers et al . 2006)
have become available. Both studies examined mitochondrial DNA and nuclear
microsatellites and agree that there is a very clear genetic separation of toothfish
from the Patagonian shelf (including the Scotia ridge outside the CCAMLR area)
from toothfish at South Georgia and Shag Rocks. The conclusion is that the passage
of the Antarctic Polar Front and the presence of deep-water troughs between these
regions are major barriers to genetic exchange.
Since 1992 Antarctic fisheries for toothfish have been plagued by IUU fishing
by both members and non-members of CCAMLR. IUU fishing developed around
South Georgia in 1992, but after several arrests and an increase in patrol presence,
in early 1996 the IUU vessels moved to hitherto unexploited areas in the Indian
Ocean. Assessments of IUU catch of toothfish, and the associated mortality of
seabirds, have been made by CCAMLR since 1994, but the results are usually
highly uncertain. Given the serious implications of IUU fishing, not only for the
toothfish but also for the associated marine ecosystem, Agnew & Kirkwood (2005)
developed a robust statistical approach to its estimation, the first application of
such a method in CCAMLR waters. That study, and subsequent monitoring, has
confirmed that apart from a brief return in 1999 and 2000, IUU fishing has been at
negligible levels at South Georgia since 1996.
Evidence presented to the assessment team showed that the bycatch of birds in
the legitimate fishery had been significantly reduced, through the use of mitigation
measures and good fishing practices, to negligible levels (generally fewer than 20
birds are killed each year, and in 2006 this number dropped to zero). In contrast,
the early fishery was estimated to have been catching up to 6000 birds a year.
Concerns were raised by stakeholders, however, about the number of hooks that
were discarded in offal and toothfish heads that could be ingested by birds. Concern
was also expressed about the effect of the fishery on skates and rays taken as
bycatch. The GSGSSI rajid research programme was relatively new at the time
of the assessment, and sufficient data to assess the impact of the fishery on their
populations was not available. Conditions were therefore added to address these
points.