Ocean Fisheries - Southern Ocean

The Southern Ocean is the fourth-largest ocean, covering 20,327,000 square kilometers. It is typically between 4,000 and 5,000 meters deep with only limited areas of shallow water. The Antarctic continental shelf is narrow and unusually deep, its edge lying at up to 800 meters, compared to a global mean of 133 meters.

The Antarctic Circumpolar Current moves perpetually eastward — chasing and joining itself, and at 21,000 kilometers is the world's longest ocean current, transporting 130 million cubic meters per second — 100 times the flow of all the world's rivers. The Antarctic ice pack fluctuates from an average minimum of 2.6 million square kilometers in March to about 18.8 million square kilometers in September.

Fauna: squid, whales, seals, krill, various fish

Increased solar ultraviolet radiation resulting from the Antarctic ozone hole has reduced marine primary productivity (phytoplankton) by as much as 15% and has started damaging the DNA of some fish. Illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, especially the landing of an estimated five to six times more Patagonian toothfish than the regulated fishery, likely affects the sustainability of the stock. Long-line fishing for toothfish causes a high incidence of seabird mortality.

The International Whaling Commission prohibits commercial whaling south of 40 degrees south (south of 60 degrees south between 50 degrees and 130 degrees west). Japan does not recognize this and they carry out an annual whale-hunt which they say is for scientific research. See Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. The Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Seals has limited seal-hunting. The Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources regulates fishing in the region.

The Amundsen Sea is an arm of the Southern Ocean off Marie Byrd Land in western Antarctica. It is mostly ice-covered, averaging about 3 km (1.9 mi) in thickness and roughly the size of Texas.

The Bellingshausen Sea is an area along the west side of the Antarctic Peninsula between Alexander Island and Thurston Island.

The Ross Sea is a deep bay of the Southern Ocean in Antarctica between Victoria Land and Marie Byrd Land. The southern part is covered by the Ross Ice Shelf. In the west of the Ross sea, McMurdo Sound is a port which is usually free of ice during the summer.

A 10 metre (32.8 feet) long colossal squid weighing 495 kilograms (1,091 lb) was captured in the Ross Sea on 22 February 2007.

The Ross Sea toothfish fishery

There are two main species of toothfish: the Patagonian toothfish, Dissostichus eleginoides, which occurs mainly in Subantarctic waters, and the ], D. mawsoni, which is found only in Antarctic waters. The Antarctic toothfish is caught from the Polar Convergence (at about 60° S) south to the Antarctic continent, whereas the Patagonian toothfish is mainly caught north of 65° S. The Ross Sea region is unusual because between these latitudes both species are abundant and show considerable overlap in their distribution. Indeed, over 90% of the longlines set in the fishery in this area have both species on the same line. Both species are found down to depths of over 2000 m

The Ross Sea toothfish fishery is the southernmost fishery in the world. The extreme cold and ice conditions can make fishing both difficult and dangerous. During most of the year the Ross Sea itself is covered by ice. However, during January and February, areas of open water (called polynas) allow access to the continental shelf and slope. Longline vessels (predominantly from New Zealand, but also from South Africa, Russia, and Uruguay) have taken advantage of this to develop an exploratory fishery. They start working in the deep south, and as the season progresses they move north to stay ahead of the freezing sea ice, and by May are restricted to the northernmost fishing grounds. CCAMLR agrees on annual precautionary catch limits. Since 1998, the catch has steadily increased from about 40 t to over 1350 t in 2002 (all of these catches are well within the CCAMLR limits). Because it is a high latitude fishery, Antarctic toothfish has formed over 95% of the catch. Up to three New Zealand vessels have been involved in the fishery in any year. However, in the 2003 season up to six New Zealand vessels are fishing in these waters.

The Weddell Sea land boundaries are defined by the bay formed from the coasts of Coats Land and the Antarctic Peninsula. Much of the southern part of the sea, up to Elephant Island, is permanent ice, the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf. At its widest the sea is around 2,000 km across, in area it is around 2.8 million km². The ice shelves which used to extend roughly 3,900 square miles (10,000 km2) over the Weddell Sea have completely disappeared by 2002.