Part 49Antarctic specially protected area No. 149

Part 49 Antarctic specially protected area No. 149

  Cape Shirreff and San Telmo Island, Livingston Island, South Shetland Islands.

  Latitude 6229 S, longitude 6048 W.

  Following designation, the size of the Cape Shirreff Antarctic fur seal colony increased to a level at which biological research could be undertaken without threatening continued increase. A survey of the South Shetland Islands and the Antarctic Peninsula identified Cape Shirreff — San Telmo Island as the most suitable site to monitor Antarctic fur seal colonies that could be affected by fisheries around the South Shetland Islands. In order to accommodate the monitoring program the SPA was redesignated as Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) No. 32 through Recommendation XV-7 (1989) following a joint proposal by Chile, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Designation was on the grounds that the “presence of both Antarctic fur seal and penguin colonies, and of krill fisheries within the foraging range of these species, make this a critical site for inclusion in the ecosystem monitoring network being established to help meet the objectives of the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR). The purpose of the designation is to allow planned research and monitoring to proceed, while avoiding or reducing, to the greatest extent possible, other activities which could interfere with or affect the results of the research and monitoring programme or alter the natural features of the Site”. The boundaries were enlarged to include San Telmo Island and associated nearby islets. Following a proposal prepared by Chile and USA, the Area was subsequently designated as CCAMLR Ecosystem Monitoring Program (CEMP) Site No. 2 through CCAMLR Conservation Measure 82/XIII (1994), with boundaries identical to SSSI No. 32.

  The current Management Plan reaffirms the exceptional scientific and monitoring values associated with the large and diverse populations of seabirds and pinnipeds which breed within the Area, and in particular those of the Antarctic fur seal colony. The Antarctic fur seal colony is the largest in the Antarctic Peninsula region and is the most southerly that is large enough to study growth, survival, diet, reproduction parameters: it numbered around 20,000 individuals in 2003–2004. Monitoring of the Antarctic fur seal colony began in 1965 (Aguayo and Torres, 1966; 1967) and seasonal data are available from 1991, making this one of the longest continuous Antarctic fur seal monitoring programs. As part of the CEMP, monitoring is established to detect and avoid possible adverse effects of fisheries on dependant species such as pinnipeds and seabirds, as well as target species such as Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba). Long-term studies are assessing and monitoring the survival, feeding ecology, growth, condition, reproduction, behavior, vital rates, and abundance of pinnipeds and seabirds that breed within the Area. Data from these studies will be compared alongside environmental and other biological data and fisheries statistics in order to help identify possible cause-effect relationships between fisheries and pinniped and seabird populations.