简体中文
The protection of the Southern Ocean was the No.1 agenda item when Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) opened its annual meeting in Hobart, Tasmaniaon on Monday.
CCAMLR had previously pledged to establish two marine protected areas in the Southern Ocean by 2012, but because of a lack of consensus, the 25 member states have failed to reach agreement on the two major proposals on four separate occasions.
It is hoped those states can finally agree on lasting and significant Southern Ocean protection when they meet in Hobart over the next 10 days, starting Monday.
The Southern Ocean is home to more than 10,000 unique species, including most of the world's penguins, whales, seabirds and colossal squid, as well as the commercially targeted Antarctic toothfish.
At issue is the establishment of large and permanent Marine Protected Areas (MPA) in the Ross Sea and the waters off East Antarctica.
Since they were first introduced, both proposals have undergone a number of amendments and compromises at the hands of CCAMLR members, including a reduction in the size of the protected areas.
A joint proposal of the United States and New Zealand to designate a Ross Sea MPA of 1.25 million square kilometers -- with 1.14 million square kilometers proposed as "no take" for fishing fleets -- has been under consideration since 2011.
Likewise, Australia, France and the EU will again be proposing the creation of an MPA to protect 946,998 square kilometers of East Antarctic waters, something that has been under consideration since 2010.
But organizers of this week's meeting in Tasmania have declared that there has been enough talk and procrastination, and now is the time for action.
"CCAMLR members have a clear task to complete: to work together to create the marine protected areas that Antarctica's waters and wildlife need," Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition executive director Mark Epstein told the Hobart Mercury on Monday.
"CCAMLR promised that this protection would come by 2012, yet the process has been stalled for the last four meetings. Global leaders -- many of whom are CCAMLR members -- have a responsibility to take action now, ensuring these marine protected areas come into force at this meeting."
Russia steps into the chairmanship role of CCAMLR this year and environmentalists hope that, 200 years after discovering the Antarctic continent, the Russians can lead member countries to a consensus decision on establishing the two MPAs.
The two-week CCAMLR meeting precedes the 21st Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change -- due to be held in December -- which aims to achieve a new international agreement on the climate, applicable to all countries. Enditem
