Tuesday October 15, 2024
Pew Charitable Trusts —
Antarctica and the Southern Ocean comprise one of the fastest-warming regions on the planet, home to a massive, melting ice sheet that will push sea levels higher and the source of ocean currents that affect weather and biodiversity around the world. All are reasons the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), the international body charged with conserving Antarctica’s Southern Ocean, should look to build on recent momentum that its 27 member governments have gained for safeguarding the region’s marine environment during its annual meeting, which begins today in Hobart, Tasmania, and concludes on Friday, Oct. 25.
At a July symposium in Incheon, South Korea, CCAMLR members advanced efforts to develop a marine protected area (MPA) along the western Antarctic Peninsula in harmony with a new ecosystem-based management to the increasingly concentrated commercial krill fishery there. This is the first time in years that all CCAMLR members—which operate by consensus, meaning decisions must be unanimous—have shown a willingness to adopt new marine protections. Encouragingly, the deliberations in Incheon focused in part on the needs of krill predators, such as penguins, whales, and seals, and included efforts to incorporate the best available science to spread out the krill catch in both space and time.