Two longline vessels were inspected and licensed to fish for Toothfish in the South Sandwich Islands in April. Inspection and licensing was carried out in Cumberland Bay, before the ships sailed on to area 48.4, to the north of the South Sandwich Islands, to fish.
A TAC of 100t had been set for the area. One of the longliners caught its TAC before the end of the month, the other completed a set of research fishing lines off Visokoi Island and continues to fish in the area.
The main South Georgia Toothfish season began on 1 May. Ten longline and one pot licence have been allocated for this season with a TAC of 3920 tonnes for the South Georgia Fishery Zone (SGFZ).
Each longliner has been allocated two research transects to fish in shallower waters off the Island's coast. These will be used to explore the shore-ward extent of coral communities, their composition and biodiversity. The aim is to find out whether corals and other benthos, which may be affected by fishing in waters deeper than 500m, also exist in similar amounts and diversity in the shallower waters which are not fished. Each vessel will set three longlines approximately along the 200m, 400m and 600m seabed contour. When the research longlines are recovered the on-board Observers will record the exact position of all coral and other benthos found and take samples for identification and biodiversity analysis.
Several of the longliners have special equipment aboard and may trial the new 'umbrella' fishing system in the SGFZ. This has proved very successful in other fisheries to reduce predation on the longlines by whales and seals. For the umbrella system the hooks are set in bundles on the longline with a buoyant net sleeve on a secondary vertical line above. As the line is hauled the sleeve slides down the line to cover the hooks and fish.
An employee of Moody Marine, the company that assesses and certifies the South Georgia Fisheries for the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), arrived at the end of April on a site visit. As well as monitoring the Toothfish 'Chain of Custody' and reassessing the fishery management, he was assessing the Icefish Fishery for possible MSC certification on behalf of 'Seaview Ltd'.
