A split iceberg, more than 30 meters (100 feet) high, in the Weddell Sea, Antarctica, photographed in 2016. Image by Scott Ableman via Flickr (CC BY-N

Negotiations to conserve Antarctic Ocean end in stalemate on many issues

AUSTRALIA
Wednesday, November 09, 2022, 02:00 (GMT + 9)

The following is an excerpt from an article published by Monbagay :

• The 41st annual meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), the intergovernmental body charged with conserving marine life in the Southern Ocean and managing fisheries there, ended Nov. 4 with little progress made on several key issues.

• In 2009 CCAMLR committed to creating a network of marine protected areas to preserve Antarctic ecosystems. It established one that year and another in 2016, but since then China and Russia have repeatedly blocked the creation of additional protected areas, as well as other conservation-related measures.

• The commission also failed to reach the consensus required to enact new regulations for the krill and toothfish fisheries, or to protect a vast nesting area for icefish discovered earlier this year.

• CCAMLR members did agree to designate eight new vulnerable marine ecosystems, areas home to slow-growing organisms such as corals, sponges, brittle stars and feather stars that are now permanently protected from bottom fishing.

On Nov. 4, the 41st annual meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) closed without making significant progress toward the establishment of new marine protected areas (MPAs) and fishery regulations. The scientific community and most delegates to the meeting had urged the adoption of new protections for Southern Ocean ecosystems to buffer damage from climate change and fishing.

Photo: CCAMLR

For the sixth year in a row, China and Russia vetoed three proposals to establish new MPAs, the most anticipated discussion at the meeting, and blocked a number of other conservation-related measures.

“China and Russia have a different view than the rest of the membership,” Orazio Guanciale, CCAMLR commissioner for Italy, told Mongabay by email. “In the Antarctic Treaty system there is a rigorous application of the consensus principle. If one disagrees, nothing is decided, you have to get over it.”

The 2022 meeting also failed to adopt new conservation measures to better regulate fishing activities for krill (Euphausia superba) and toothfish (Chilean sea bass, Dissostichus mawsoni and D. eleginoides). However, the commission did recognize eight new vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) with high biological diversity which are now permanently protected from bottom fishing.

CCAMLR was founded in 1982 in response to increasing commercial interest in Antarctic krill, with a mandate to conserve Antarctic marine life. The meeting involved 27 member countries and 10 acceding states and ran from Oct. 24 to Nov. 4. in Hobart, Australia. It was the first in-person annual CCAMLR meeting after two remote ones due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

MPAs blocked again

The Southern Ocean constitutes about 6% of the global ocean surface. It is home to unique biodiversity, including fish, whales, mammals, seabirds, invertebrates and microorganisms. Antarctic marine ecosystems also play a fundamental role in the planet’s ability to capture and store carbon from the atmosphere. In recent decades, however, the Southern Ocean has become a hotspot for climate change.

In 2009, CCAMLR member countries committed themselves to creating “a representative network of MPAs” to preserve Antarctic ecosystems from the threats of climate change and industrial fishing.

Existing and proposed marine protected areas of Antarctica. Image courtesy of Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy Project / Mongabay

The first was established in 2009 on the southern shelf of the South Orkney Islands. In 2016 it was the turn of the Ross Sea, where today the largest MPA in the world stands, covering an area of 1.55 million square kilometers (598,000 square miles). Both protected areas were scrutinized and approved by CCAMLR’s scientific committee and then unanimously approved by the commission.

Since then, China and Russia have repeatedly vetoed proposals for three new MPAs: one each in the Weddell Sea and East Antarctica, which the European Union proposed and the scientific committee approved, but the two countries vetoed within the commission; and another surrounding the Antarctic Peninsula, which Chile and Argentina proposed but China and Russia blocked at the scientific committee stage.(continues...)

Author:  Francesco De Augustinis / Mongabay | Read the full article by clicking the link here

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