Latest News

• ASOC was at the International Whaling Commission meeting in Madeira, Spain June 22-26, represented by Dr. Sidney Holt, who celebrated his 50th year working to save whales. Read his statement on behalf of NGOs at the meeting here. Click here to read his policy statement on behalf of ASOC. Urge your government to support the whales by pressuring Japan to abandon its whaling program in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.  Download a petition to Japan by clicking here. 
  
  
• ASOC will be at the IMO's Marine Environment Protection Committee in London July 13-17, at which the proposed ban on using Heavy Fuel Oil in the Antarctic is up for approval. Click here to read ASOC's Policy Briefing on this important meeting.
  
  
• Read ASOC's report on the recent Antarctic Treaty Meeting in Baltimore for the full story about what happened at the meeting (or what didn't).
  
  
• ASOC congratulates the South African government for agreeing to designate the Prince Edward Islands as a Marine Protected Area.  The proposed MPA is 180,000 square kilometers and would be the largest marine protected area (MPA) in the Antarctic region and the sixth largest MPA in the world, about half the size of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.  Read more about the MPA here.   Read the press release from the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, an ASOC Member, here, and download their map of the MPA here.
  


• ASOC and its member groups are very concerned about the proposal to certify part of the krill fishery.  Click here to read our comments to the MSC and Moody Marine.  If you want to submit your views, go to the MSC website by clicking here.