The Fish and Fisheries of Bouvet Island

Total marine fisheries catches by CCAMLR member countries within the EEZ of Bouvet Island (or Bouvetøya, Norway) in the southern Atlantic were estimated from 1970 to 2010, including previously unreported catches from longline fisheries. Mesopelagic and demersal fish species distribution and abundance around Bouvet Island were assessed through the 20 century by various methods. Cumulative marine fisheries catches (including discards) around Bouvet Island from 1977 to 2010 were estimated to be 2,427 t, which is 2.2 times the currently reported landings of 1,083 t presented by the CCAMLR Statistical Bulletin for sub-area 48.6. No fishery appears to have occurred in the EEZ-equivalent waters around Bouvet Island prior to the mid-1970s. Pelagic trawl fisheries were not reconstructed in this study, since neither krill nor myctophids were spatially reported by CCAMLR; however a significant amount of illegal and unreported fishing was suspected. The discrepancy between reported and reconstructed data was largely due to the inclusion of unreported and by-catch components. This study illustrates the need for improved CCAMLR reporting of catches, such as establishing a clear differentiation between retained by-catch and discards, including in their publically available datasets. Improving the fisheries management in Antarctica is critical, since this area constitutes one of the areas of the world most vulnerable to over-fishing.