| Summary: | Progress Code: completed Statement: See the report for further information. Objectives of the project: 1. To develop deep-sea camera technologies that can be easily deployed during fishing operations, to facilitate widespread observations of demersal fishing activities (trawl, longline and trap) and their interactions with benthic environments. 2. To assess the vulnerability of benthic communities in Subantarctic (Australian AFZ) and high latitude areas of the Southern Ocean (Australian EEZ) to demersal fishing using trawls, longlines or traps, using video and still camera technologies. 3. To assess the risk of demersal fishing to long-term sustainability of benthic communities in these areas, based on the assessment of vulnerability and information from the literature on potential recovery of benthic species and habitats. 4. To recommend mitigation strategies by avoidance or gear modification, where identified to be needed, and practical guidelines to minimise fishing impacts on benthic communities. Non-Technical Summary Australia's domestic legislation and obligations under international agreements such as the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine living Resources (CCAMLR) requires that Australia's fishing activities in the Subantarctic and Antarctic Southern Ocean avoids unsustainable impacts to the ecosystem and biodiversity. As Australia uses bottom fishing methods, including demersal trawls and longlines to target Patagonian toothfish and mackerel icefish in this region there is the potential to impact upon benthic habitats. However, understanding the scale of disturbance caused by Australia's bottom fishing activities in the deep Southern Ocean is hampered by a paucity of data, theory and procedures. This project set out to address these issues by developing tools to allow such an assessment, with a focus on the fishery that has operating since 1997 targeting Patagonian toothfish and mackerel icefish in the EEZ around Heard Island and the McDonald Islands (HIMI). A significant output of ...
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