SPRFMO exploratory toothfish fishery & Jack Mackerel quota increase
Law & Regulation
In Effect
February 21, 2025
Summary
At its 13th Commission meeting in Santiago, Chile (17-21 February 2025), the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (SPRFMO) approved a three-year exploratory fishery (2025-2027) for Patagonian toothfish for South Korea, authorising an annual catch limit of 240 tonnes within a defined 110,000 square kilometre area of the South Pacific, an area where Korea previously held no authorised toothfish fishery.
At the same meeting, Korea’s national jack mackerel (Trachurus murphyi) quota for 2025 was set at 18,506 tonnes, a 25% increase over its 2024 allocation of 14,805 tonnes, within an overall SPRFMO total allowable catch that also rose 25% to 1,242,000 tonnes. South Korea’s Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries announced both decisions on 1 May 2025.
Background Context
Prior to 2025, Korean-flagged vessels harvested toothfish only in areas regulated by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), with no authorised toothfish fishery in the SPRFMO Convention Area. Korea submitted a Fisheries Operation Plan for Toothfish to the 12th SPRFMO Scientific Committee in 2024, which reviewed the proposal and informed the Commission’s 2025 approval.
SPRFMO has progressively adjusted jack mackerel catch limits and national allocations over the preceding decade based on stock assessments from its Scientific Committee, with the 2025 adjustment building on this existing total allowable catch and allocation framework.
System Impact
Direction
Expands Exploitation
Type
Changes Scale
Significance
Moderate
The SPRFMO Commission’s 2025 Conservation and Management Measure for Korea’s exploratory toothfish fishery authorises Korean vessels to fish for Patagonian toothfish within a defined 110,000 square kilometre area of the South Pacific for 2025-2027, subject to an annual catch limit of 240 tonnes and associated scientific data-collection and reporting obligations.
Korea’s 2025 national jack mackerel quota of 18,506 tonnes represents a 25% increase over the 2024 allocation of 14,805 tonnes, set within an SPRFMO-wide total allowable catch of 1,242,000 tonnes for 2025, itself a 25% increase over the prior year. A subsequent SPRFMO decision set Korea’s 2026 jack mackerel quota at 19,966 tonnes, indicating the allocation framework continued in operation beyond 2025.
Actual 2025 catch volumes for the exploratory toothfish fishery and realised utilisation of the increased jack mackerel quota are not available in sources consulted.
Anticipated Effects
If Korea’s exploratory toothfish quota is fully utilised over 2025-2027, up to 720 tonnes of toothfish would be harvested from the newly authorised area, subject to actual fishing effort and catch rates. If the 2025 jack mackerel quota is fully utilised, Korean catches of jack mackerel under SPRFMO would be up to 3,701 tonnes higher than in 2024.
The exploratory toothfish fishery’s data-collection requirements would be expected to generate biological and spatial data that could inform future decisions on whether to continue, expand, or constrain fishing in the area; these outcomes are conditional on effort and reporting not yet documented in available sources.
Significance Rationale
Assigned Expands Exploitation because the development authorises a new Korean fishing ground and catch entitlement for toothfish where none previously existed, and increases Korea’s jack mackerel quota by 3,701 tonnes within an enlarged overall SPRFMO total allowable catch, both representing documented upward adjustments in permitted catch rather than stated intentions.
Assigned Changes Scale as the primary mechanism, since both components operate through changes to authorised catch volume and area rather than through a change in what is legally permitted in principle.
Assigned Moderate significance because the measures add a new but tonnage-limited fishery (240 tonnes annually) and a quota increase affecting a defined subset of Korean distant-water fleets, rather than a comprehensive restructuring of Korea’s fisheries sector.
The duration and persistence of this scale change is not established in available sources, since SPRFMO total allowable catch and national quotas are reviewed and adjusted annually, and 2025 catch and effort data for the exploratory toothfish fishery were not yet available in sources consulted.
Key Actors
The SPRFMO Commission adopted the 2025 conservation and management measures at its 13th meeting. South Korea’s Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, led by Minister Kang Do-hyung, represented Korea at the meeting, with the Korean delegation led by Deputy Director Kim Jeong-rye, and announced the outcomes publicly. The National Institute of Fisheries Science, an agency under the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, contributed scientific research and data supporting Korea’s Fisheries Operation Plan for Toothfish.
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