2023-10-16 06:56:34
Starting Monday, states in Hobart, Australia, will again be negotiating the designation of three large marine protected areas in Antarctica. The annual meeting of the Antarctic Commission CCAMLR lasts two weeks. The protected areas are to be created in East Antarctica, in the Weddell Sea and in the waters of the Antarctic Peninsula. Because of resistance from Russia and China, a breakthrough has so far failed – most recently in June at a special CCAMLR meeting in Santiago de Chile.
To make progress, the consent of all 27 member states is needed, as all decisions must be taken unanimously. Antarctica is increasingly worrying experts around the world. In September it was announced that the extent of sea ice around the continent had reached a new low: just under 17 million square kilometers, significantly less than in previous years in the Antarctic winter. Since Monday, the governments responsible for protecting Antarctic marine fauna and flora in Hobart, Australia, have once again been struggling to find concrete solutions for protecting the Southern Ocean. They have two weeks to do this at the annual meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR).
“This year, the Southern Ocean experienced record low sea ice levels and previously unimaginably high temperatures, as well as the deaths of an estimated 9,000 emperor penguin chicks due to sea ice loss,” said expert Andrea Kavanagh of the Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy Project. The rate of change in Antarctica is alarming, “but what is even more alarming is that CCAMLR has taken no action to combat climate change in the last decade.”
One of the main issues is once again the designation of three major Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in East Antarctica, the Weddell Sea and the waters of the Antarctic Peninsula. Because of resistance from Russia and China, a breakthrough has always failed – most recently in June at a special CCAMLR meeting on the topic in Santiago de Chile.
“MPAs will not stop climate change, but they will help make the ecosystem more resilient,” Kavanagh emphasized. It is high time for the CCAMLR to get out of its “dead end”. The Antarctic Commission is coming under increasing pressure because it has had little success for years. The last significant measure was taken in 2016 with the agreement of the Ross Sea Protected Area, a marginal sea in the Southern Ocean. Since then, the climate and biodiversity crisis has worsened, warned the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC).
Stricter requirements for krill fishing are also on the agenda. The tiny crustaceans are caught en masse to make oil and fish feed – but they are extremely important for the fragile Antarctic ecosystem with animals such as whales and penguins. The Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) was established in 1980. The conference lasts until October 27th.
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