Southern Ocean protection takes a step backwards as CCAMLR fails to put conservation first

Hobart, Australia, 25 October 2024: The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) 43^rd annual meeting has closed.

Not only has CCAMLR, the body charged with conserving marine living resources in Antarctica, failed to take action on its commitment to create a representative system of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Southern Ocean, the Commission has also taken a substantial step backward on krill fisheries management.

Despite significant negotiations on a revised krill fishery management plan and an MPA for the Antarctic Peninsula that would better protect krill predators and the ecosystem, new measures were blocked. CCAMLR also could not reach consensus to renew a key measure that spreads out the krill catch.  

While the world gathers at the Convention of Biological Diversity 16th Conference of the Parties (CBD COP16) in Colombia, CCAMLR had an opportunity to help reach the global commitment of protecting 30% of the ocean by 2030 (30×30) by adopting a new MPA in the Antarctic Peninsula, an area warming at a rate twice the global average, and home to unique and irreplaceable wildlife such as penguins, whales, and seals. But it sadly failed to do so. CCAMLR has not adopted a new MPA since 2016.

CCAMLR was set up in 1982 with the objective of conserving Antarctic marine life in response to increasing commercial interest in Antarctic krill. Antarctic krill are one of the key species in the Southern Ocean food web. In reversing a key management measure that protected Antarctic krill, CCAMLR is now failing to meet its own objective of conservation. 

Notes to editors:

• CCAMLR is the international body responsible for the conservation of Antarctic marine ecosystems and the management of fishing in the Southern Ocean. 

• The Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC) is a coalition of conservation organizations from around the world that defends the integrity of Antarctic and Southern Ocean ecosystems from encroaching human activities. Its mission is to protect the Antarctic and Southern Ocean’s unique and vulnerable ecosystems by providing the unified voice of the NGO community.

• For more information, please read Protecting a Changing Southern Ocean

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