Estimating the abundance of Patagonian toothfish Dissostichus eleginoides using baited cameras: a preliminary study

The Patagonian toothfish Dissostichus eleginoides has been the object of a rapidly expanding longline fishery in the Southern Ocean. Little is known a bout the biology of D. eleginoides and traditional methods of estimating st ock size using trawling techniques have proved ineffective because the adul t fish are found in deep waters on the continental slope at depths of 700-2 500 m. During September 1997, a preliminary study was undertaken using arri val times at an autonomous baited camera vehicle, the Aberdeen University D eep Ocean Submersible (AUDOS), to estimate the abundance and size of toothf ish in waters around South Georgia (SG) and the Falkland Islands (FI). Thes e are the first attempts at estimating the abundance of toothfish that are independent of catch data from the commercial fishery. (C) 2001 Elsevier Sc ience B.V. All rights reserved.