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Efforts by the Commission for the Conservation of Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) to declare two large Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Southern Ocean have failed once more with no consensus being reached at the recent meeting of the Commission in Hobart, Australia.  This follows on from last year’s meetings and a special intersessional meeting in Germany in July this year when agreement was not reached on proclaiming MPAs in the Ross Sea and East Antarctica regions (click here).

Go to the links below to read opinion pieces from both governmental and NGO sources on CCAMLR’s decision not to declare new MPAs this year.

http://www.antarctica.gov.au/media/news/2013/east-antarctic-marine-protected-areas-a-step-closer

http://antarcticocean.org/2013/11/russia-and-ukraine-block-again-now-what/

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11150159

http://antarcticocean.org/2013/11/russia-ukraine-again-block-global-efforts-for-southern-ocean-marine-protection/

A white-phase Southern Giant Petrel in Antarctica

Photograph by Michael Dunn

Creation of new MPAs in the Southern Ocean will help protect those species of seabirds that occur in the region, including ACAP-listed albatrosses and petrels.  Although only two ACAP-listed species (Light-mantled Sooty Albatross Phoebetria palpebrata and Southern Giant Petrel Macronectes giganteus) breed within the Antarctic Treaty area, the waters of the Southern Ocean are important foraging grounds for the many ACAP-listed species that breed on sub-Antarctic islands.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 03 November 2013