World's
largest marine park created in Ross Sea in Antarctica in landmark
deal
EU
and 24 countries sign long-awaited agreement to protect 1.1m sq km of
water in Southern Ocean, ensuring that fewer younger fish will be
caught
Michael Slezak
Friday 28 October
2016 00.56 BST
A landmark
international agreement to create the world’s largest marine park
in the Southern Ocean has been brokered in Australia, after five
years of compromises and failed negotiations.
More than 1.5m sq km
of the Ross Sea around Antarctica will be protected under the deal
brokered between 24 countries and the European Union. It means 1.1m
sq km of it – an area about the size of France and Spain combined –
will be set aside as a no-take “general protection zone”, where
no fishing will be allowed.
Significantly, the
protections are set to expire in 35 years.
The agreement came
on Friday at the conclusion of two weeks of discussions between
delegates from 24 countries and the EU in Hobart, at the annual
meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine
Living Resources (CCAMLR).
Evan Bloom from the
US state department, the head of the US delegation to the meeting,
told the Guardian he was “thrilled”.
“I think it’s a
really significant moment,” he said. “We’ve been working
towards this for many years. It’s taken time to get consensus but
now we have established the world’s largest marine protected area.”
It is the first
marine park created in international waters and will set a precedent
for further moves to help the world achieve the International Union
for the Conservation of Nature’s recommendation that 30% of the
world’s oceans be protected.
The Antarctic
protections had been urgently sought because of the importance of the
Southern Ocean to the world’s natural resources. For example,
scientists have estimated that the Southern Ocean produces about
three-quarters of the nutrients that sustain life in the rest of the
world’s oceans. The region is also home to most of the world’s
penguins and whales.
The Ross Sea is a
deep bay in the Southern Ocean that many scientists consider to be
the last intact marine ecosystem on Earth – a living laboratory
ideally suited for investigating life in the Antarctic and how
climate change is affecting the planet.
Andrea Kavanagh, the
director of Antarctic and Southern Ocean work for the Pew Charitable
Trusts, which has been working for years to achieve today’s result,
said: “Today, CCAMLR made history by declaring the planet’s
largest marine protected area in the Ross Sea.
“This landmark
decision represents the first time that nations have agreed to
protect a huge area of the ocean that lies beyond the jurisdiction of
any individual country and shows that CCAMLR takes its role as
protector of Antarctic waters seriously.”
The protections will
not decrease the total amount of fish that are allowed to be caught
in the Ross Sea, but it will move the industry away from the most
crucial habitats close to the continent itself.
Russia has an
industry catching antarctic toothfish there and the changes will push
the fleet into waters where they will catch fewer immature fish, and
where they won’t compete with as many orcas, who also rely on
toothfish for food.
The agreement also
establishes a large 322,000 sq km “krill research zone” that will
allow for reseach catching of krill, but prohibit toothfish catching.
Additionally, a 110,000 sq km “special research zone” will be
established on the outside of the no-take zone, allowing catching of
krill and toothfish only for research purposes.
“Today’s
agreement is a turning point for the protection of Antarctica and the
Southern Ocean,” said Chris Johnson, WWF-Australia’s ocean
science manager. “This is important not just for the incredible
diversity of life that it will protect, but also for the contribution
it makes to building the resilience of the world’s ocean in the
face of climate change.”
But the expiry of
the protections in 35 years was a significant compromise. It came
after five years of failed negotiations, with opposition from China
and Russia which have fishing industries in the region.
The World
Conservation Union definition of a marine protected area requires it
to be permanent. “WWF has concerns that the Ross Sea agreement does
not meet this standard,” Johnson said.
“We are optimistic
that after years of deadlock at the annual CCAMLR meeting, today’s
decision will spark renewed momentum for CCAMLR members to achieve
permanent protection for the Ross Sea in coming years and also
deliver marine protected areas in East Antarctica and the Weddell
Sea.”
The Guardian
understands that a proposal for 50 years of protection had been
tabled but Russia wouldn’t agree.
Bloom said while the
US and other countries preferred permanent protections, the
compromise “was necessary in order for this to be adopted”.
Kavanagh said: “It
can’t be overstated how difficult these negotiations were.”
“It took five
years of talking about this one proposal exclusively to get it across
the table. And if you look at other marine reserves that are
permanent, they’re in one exclusive economic zone – it’s only
one country that has to make the decision.
“And I’m
positive that in 35 years, the conservation values that come out of
the Ross Sea, the protections will be renewed. The world will be a
different place in 35 years.”
The campaign group
Avaaz had, with Leonardo DiCaprio, launched a petition calling for
CCAMLR to establish “the world’s largest network of marine
protected areas in the Southern Ocean, starting with the Ross Sea and
East Antarctica”. It received more than 2m signatures, Avaaz said.
“There’s massive
momentum in the world right now to protect our oceans,” said Luis
Morago, campaign director at Avaaz. “Governments have just set the
landmark target of protecting 30% of our oceans, and millions of
people all over the world are pushing for more protected areas to
achieve that goal. The Ross Sea is just the start.”
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