CCAMLR's precautionary approach to management focusing on Ro

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TitleCCAMLR's precautionary approach to management focusing on Ross Sea toothfish fisheryAbstractSeveral recent papers have criticized the scientific robustness of the fisheries management system used by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), including that for Ross Sea toothfish. Here we present a response from the wider CCAMLR community to address concerns and to correct some apparent misconceptions about how CCAMLR acts to promote conservation whilst allowing safe exploitation in all of its fisheries. A key aspect of CCAMLR's approach is its adaptive feedback nature; regular monitoring and analysis allows for adjustments to be made, as necessary, to provide a robust management system despite the statistical uncertainties inherent in any single assessment. Within the Ross Sea, application of CCAMLR's precautionary approach has allowed the toothfish fishery to develop in a steady fashion with an associated accumulation of data and greater scientific understanding. Regular stock assessments of the fishery have been carried out since 2005, and the 2013 stock assessment estimated current spawning stock biomass to be at 75% of the pre-exploitation level. There will always be additional uncertainties which need to be addressed, but where information is lacking the CCAMLR approach to management ensures exploitation rates are at a level commensurate with a precautionary approach. ©2015 Antarctic Science Ltd.AcknowledgementsWe thank members of CCAMLR's Working Group on Fish Stock Assessment and Scientific Committee and wider CCAMLR community for useful discussions and comments on earlier drafts of this paper. The following scientists have all contributed to the preparation of this paper and fully endorse the views which it expresses: Javier Arata, Mark Belchier, Martin Collins, Alistair Dunn, Nicolas Gasco, Richard Hillary, Robin Leslie, Sophie Mormede, Steven Parker, Andrey Petrov, Roberto Sarralde, Rob Scott, Ben Sharp, Kenji Taki, Rodrigo Wiff and Inja Yeon. We thank Dr Abrams and three anonymous referees for comments on an earlier draft of the manuscript.

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1st AuthorHanchet, S.AuthorHanchet, S.Sainsbury, K.Butterworth, D.Darby, C.Bizikov, V.Rune GodÃ¸, O.Ichii, T.Kock, K.-H.LÃ³pez AbellÃ¡n, L.Vacchi, M.Year2014JournalAntarctic ScienceVolume27Number4Pages333-340DOI10.1017/S095410201400087XURLhttps://www.scopus.com/inward/recor.....ad9916a6b1736c75ffa87d20aKeywordsbiomassfishery managementfishing communityfishing industrymarine resourceprecautionary principlespawningstock assessmentteleostuncertainty analysis, AntarcticaRoss SeaSouthern Ocean, rank3Author KeywordsAntarctic toothfishCCAMLRecosystemmanaging uncertaintyreference pointsstock assessment

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TypeArticleCitationHanchet, S., Sainsbury, K., Butterworth, D., Darby, C., Bizikov, V., Rune Godo, O., Ichii, T., Kock, K.-H., Lopez Abellan, L. and Vacchi, M. (2014). CCAMLR's precautionary approach to management focusing on Ross Sea toothfish fishery. Antarctic Science, 27(4): 333-340 IdentifierHanchet2014Relevancerank3