Russia and China have once again blocked the creation of marine protected areas (MPAs) in the Southern Ocean, which are needed to protect the vulnerable Antarctic ecosystem.
This took place during the 43rd session of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), which took place last week in Hobart (Tasmania, Australia).
For the last two years, Ukraine has chaired the Commission, and one of our priorities was to create new marine protected areas.
Only two MPAs
Currently, there are only 2 MPAs in the Southern Ocean:
- Offshore the South Orkney Islands, established in 2009.
- In the Ross Sea, created in 2016. Currently, it is the largest sea area in the world’s oceans (over 400 thousand square kilometers).
Since 2016, no new MPAs have been created in the Antarctic, although projects of three large areas have been constantly submitted for discussion by the Commission for a long time. In particular, in East Antarctica, the Weddell Sea, and the Antarctic Peninsula.
Ukraine joined the first two MPAs as a co-initiator. The third one was proposed by Chile and Argentina, and Ukraine initiated the creation of new control sites for additional monitoring.
However, China and Russia have traditionally blocked the creation of new MPAs. These two countries are not only demanding a revision of approaches to the creation of such areas, but also questioning the feasibility of existing MPAs .
Krill catch
Moreover, due to the position of these countries, for the first time in the last 15 years, it was not possible to agree on the use of the total limit of Antarctic krill catch (620 thousand tons) agreed by CCAMLR in one of the Southern Ocean regions.
Such limits are necessary to ensure that certain highly productive marine areas, which play a significant role in providing food for marine mammals and birds, do not catch excessive amounts of krill.
Therefore, unfortunately, the vulnerable marine ecosystem of the Southern Ocean may suffer due to the consumerist position of Russia and China.
Good news
At the same time, we have some good news from the session:
- Viktor Podgorny, a Ukrainian specialist who worked as a scientific observer in the Antarctic krill fishery, received the second prize from the Association for Responsible Antarctic Krill Fisheries for his personal contribution to the collection of primary scientific and commercial data for CCAMLR;
- the Ukrainian vessel Marigolds received an award from the Association for Responsible Fanged Fisheries for the high level of registration of the return of fanged fish tags (in fishing areas, tagging this species is the main way to assess its stock).
In turn, the National Antarctic Research Center of Ukraine, together with scientists from other Commission member states, continues to participate in the CCAMLR ecosystem monitoring program. The program assesses the stock of Antarctic krill based on the state of penguin populations, as this is their main food.
