World's largest marine park created in Ross Sea in Antarctica in landmark deal

Extract from The Guardian

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

Emperor penguins in the Ross Sea in the Southern Ocean. New protections announced on Friday will protect the ocean, which is home to most of the world’s penguins and whales. Photograph: Getty Images/National Geographic Creative

Michael Slezak

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Friday 28 October 2016 10.56 AEDT 

A landmark international agreement to create the world’s largest marine park in the Southern Ocean has been brokered in Australia, following five years of compromises and failed negotiations.
Over 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 at all.
But 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 nations and the European Union in Hobart, at the annual meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR).

The protections had been urgently sought because of the importance of the Southern Ocean to the entire world’s natural resources. For example, scientists have estimated 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, director of Antarctic and Southern Ocean work for the Pew Charitable Trusts 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.”

Map released by WWF showing protected area of Ross Sea. Photograph: WWF

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 sawfish 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 sawfish 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 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 who 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,” said Johnson.
“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”, said Johnson.
The Guardian understands a proposal for 50 years of protection had been tabled, but Russia wouldn’t agree to protections lasting that long.
Campaign group Avaaz launched a petition with Leonardo Di Caprio, 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 over 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.”