Structure And Distribution Of Fish And Cephalopod Communities On The Burdwood Bank (Southwest Atlantic)

No abstracts are to be cited without prior reference to the author.

The Burwood Bank is a large under water plateau situated in the South Atlantic between 53°30’S and 55°S and between the longitude of 55°W and 62°W. It lies between the western extremities of the Scotia Ridge and Southern South America. The Bank is in the path of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and it gives rise to both branches of the Falklands Current. The area is characterised by an anticylonic gyre which, in conjunction with its local hydrography results in unique fish and cephalopod communities. Stocks of rockcod (Patagonotothen ramsayi) and southern blue whiting (Micromeisistius a. australis) were targeted sporadically in the 60s and 70s by eastern European countries but the area was never fished intensively due to rough fishing grounds. Since the mid 1980’s fishing activity has been restricted to sporadic longlining for the Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) by two licensed fishing vessels. The Burdwood Bank is the only reproductive area of the species known in the Southwest Atlantic, and because of this the fishery here is prohibited during the spawning season. The western shelf area of the bank, which is situated in Argentinean waters, is a protected area for juvenile toothfish.