02 Nov
2006 - Hobart, Tasmania – Ecological zones across
the entire Southern Ocean have been defined for
the first time in an effort to provide a scientific
foundation for improving fisheries management
and tackling the leading threats to marine habitats
and wildlife, such as climate change and the impacts
of invasive species.
The zones were recently mapped
by scientists attending an international meeting
on marine conservation in the Antarctic, and forms
part of a report launched by WWF-Australia, the
Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research
Centre and Antarctic expedition cruise operator
Peregrine Adventures.
“This map will help us better
understand the Southern Ocean so that we can address
the major threats to its habitats and wildlife,
such as illegal fishing, climate change, and the
impact of invasive marine species,” said Dr Gilly
Llewellyn, WWF-Australia’s programme leader for
oceans.
“The area mapped represents
about 10 per cent of the world’s ocean surface
and will provide the basis for improving fisheries
management and the wider management of the Southern
Ocean’s flora and fauna, and ultimately identifying
areas of sea requiring protection.”
Information on the physical
characteristics of the ocean, such as depth, temperature,
currents and the formation of sea ice, was used
to distinguish between different types of environments,
and to help understand where different animals
— ranging from plankton to whales — might live.
The map — found in the report
Bioregionalisation of the Southern Ocean — has
important ramifications for how conservation issues
will be managed in the Southern Ocean and will
provide a scientific foundation for protecting
sensitive Antarctic marine habitats and wildlife.
“This report will help us in
our continuing work to develop new approaches
for the conservation and management of living
resources in the Southern Ocean,” said Denzil
Miller, Executive Secretary of Commission for
the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources
(CCAMLR).
CCAMLR meets each year to discuss
the management of the Southern Ocean and Antarctic
waters, which face increasing threats from illegal
and unregulated fishing, climate change, and invasive
species.
Regarded as one of the most
progressive fisheries management organizations
in the world, CCAMLR recently introduced measures
to encourage less destructive fishing techniques
that have reduced seabird by-catch by 90 per cent.
Long-line fishing has been a major contributor
to the critically endangered status of some albatross
species and the high mortality of other seabirds.
Charlie Stevens, Press Officer
WWF-Australia
