ASOC calls for Southern Ocean protection after decade-long deadlock

The commitment to establish a network of marine protected areas (MPAs) across the Southern Ocean remains unfulfilled after a decade without any new designations. Ahead of this October’s CCAMLR meeting in Hobart, the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC) is calling on governments to break the impasse through a suite of reforms to protect the Antarctic environment: adoption of the Antarctic Peninsula MPA, updated precautionary krill fishery management, and development of a roadmap to complete the wider network of MPAs by 2030.

The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), which meets from 19–30 October, committed to a representative system of MPAs in 2009. It has not designated any new MPAs since the Ross Sea region MPA in 2016, leaving proposals for the Antarctic Peninsula, East Antarctica and two parts of the Weddell Sea awaiting decisions.

“Governments have allowed a decade to pass without extending Southern Ocean protection, despite the commitment they made and the science before them,” said Claire Christian, ASOC’s executive director. “The pressures on Antarctic ecosystems are growing. Members must come to Hobart prepared to resolve the outstanding differences and adopt the Antarctic Peninsula MPA this year.”

ASOC is urging CCAMLR members to adopt the approximately 456,000 km² Antarctic Peninsula MPA, known as Domain 1. Proposed by Chile and Argentina, it would safeguard important habitats and feeding grounds for Antarctic wildlife and provide reference areas where scientists could study environmental change without human pressures.

The Peninsula is one of the most rapidly warming places in the Southern Hemisphere. Changes in sea ice and ocean conditions are affecting krill and the penguins, seals and whales that depend on them, while fishing has become increasingly concentrated in the region. Protecting these habitats would help reduce direct human pressures as marine life responds to a changing climate.

ASOC is seeking a roadmap, alongside the Peninsula MPA establishment, to advance the East Antarctic and Weddell Sea proposals and complete the representative network by 2030. Together with existing MPAs, the four proposals would protect approximately 26 per cent of the Southern Ocean, contributing 2.6 per cent of the global ocean towards the goal of protecting 30 per cent by 2030.

CCAMLR already has the authority to establish these protections, without negotiating or implementing a new international treaty. Its earlier designation of the South Orkney Islands Southern Shelf and Ross Sea region MPAs demonstrated that members can reach consensus on large-scale conservation.

“The opportunity in Hobart is to secure lasting protection for the Antarctic Peninsula and restore progress for conservation across the Southern Ocean,” said Holly Parker Curry, ASOC’s MPA campaign director. “That will require sustained diplomacy and direct engagement between governments before negotiations begin. A breakthrough is possible if members do that work and arrive ready to find common ground.”

“Penguins, whales and other wildlife along the Antarctic Peninsula need expansive habitat to feed and breed, and they need sufficient populations of krill to eat,” said Nicholas Kirkham, who leads Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy’s work to safeguard Antarctica’s Southern Ocean. “At its annual meeting this year, CCAMLR member governments have an opportunity to establish marine protected areas, including one along the Antarctic Peninsula, to safeguard a unique and globally significant ecosystem. After two years of early krill fishery closures caused by heavy fishing pressure in key wildlife feeding areas, and more than a decade without a new marine protected area designation, it is time for CCAMLR members to adopt ambitious conservation measures.”

Alongside its MPA priorities, ASOC is calling for stronger krill fishery management, including distribution of fishing through smaller spatial management units, enhanced ecosystem monitoring, including of whales, and highly precautionary catch limits. These measures would address concentrated fishing in wildlife feeding areas and complement the proposed habitat protections.

“Krill sustain the Southern Ocean, yet fishing continues to concentrate in key wildlife feeding areas despite evidence of impacts on whales, seals and penguins,” said Emily Grilly, Ocean Conservation Manager at WWF-Australia. “The recent listing of the Antarctic fur seal as endangered - with krill availability identified as a driver of its decline - should be a wake-up call. CCAMLR must implement precautionary and ecosystem-based management that puts the health of the Southern Ocean ahead of short-term fishing interests”.

"The designation of the Antarctic Peninsula MPA would be a major step toward protecting the Southern Ocean at scale, while helping ensure krill fishing is managed with the needs of the wider ecosystem in mind," said Ryan Dolan, Managing Director of Blue Nature Alliance. "CCAMLR has an opportunity to turn a long-standing promise into meaningful progress for the global ocean.”