Oceans campaigner Richard
Page is currently attending the annual
meeting of CCAMLR Commission, where discussions
are underway for a representative network
of marine protected areas across the Southern
Ocean by 2012.
Although it’s spring
here in Hobart, Tasmania, the sometimes-chilly
weather reminds me that there is only 3,500km
(2000 miles) of ocean between where I am
and Antarctica. The city has strong connections
with the icy continent at the bottom of
our blue planet. James Clark Ross and Roald
Amundsen are just two of the famous polar
explorers whose expeditions stopped in Hobart
on the way south. Today, Tasmania is no
less important to Antarctic research and
is home to the Australian Antarctic Division
and importantly, the secretariat for the
Convention for the Conservation of Marine
Living Resources (CCAMLR) is based here
too. And this is where the negotiations
on the Southern Ocean marine reserves take
place, crucial for the future of these pristine
waters.
In the early 1980s there
were growing concerns that an increase in
krill catches in the Southern Ocean could
have a serious effect on populations of
krill and the many species, such as penguins,
petrels, seals and fish that depend on this
shrimp-like crustacean for food. As a result,
CCAMLR was negotiated and came into force
in 1982, with aims conserve the marine life
and manage the fisheries of the Southern
Ocean. Those who negotiated the Convention
text broke new ground, by agreeing to strong
rules and the requirement to take precautionary
action if there is a possibility that fishing
puts the wider ecosystem at risk. There
are crucial rules in the Convention that
enable the establishment of marine reserves
and marine protected areas in the Southern
Ocean, which distinguish them from the Arctic
Ocean and most of the rest of the high seas,
where such rules are totally absent, leaving
them open to plunder.
In the subsequent decades,
the remote waters of the Southern Ocean
have come under increasing pressure with
climate change, ocean acidification and
commercial fisheries all threatening the
fragile Antarctic ecology. Over the next
weeks, possibly as many as 18 vessels from
seven countries, including New Zealand,
the UK and Korea, will be heading to the
Ross Sea to fish for toothfish, which is
sold as Chilean Sea Bass in some countries.
The long-lived and slow growing Antarctic
toothfish is an important component of the
Ross Sea ecosystem, and is thought to play
a similar role to that of sharks in warmer
waters. Unlike most ocean ecosystems, the
Ross Sea still maintains its full complement
of top predators, being home to vast populations
of Antarctic petrels, emperor penguins,
Adelie penguins, Weddell seals and minke
whales. It is also home to Ross Sea type-C
killer whales, a distinct species that feeds
on toothfish and my own personal favorite,
the colossal squid. It seems incredible
to me that fishermen are going literally
to the end of the earth to work in such
freezing and dangerous conditions. The truth
is that this fishery simply wouldn’t be
economic if so many fish stocks in near-shore
waters hadn’t been massively overfished.
So today is the start
of the 30th annual meeting of CCAMLR Commission
meeting, where countries are discussing
plans to establish a representative network
of marine protected areas across the Southern
Ocean by 2012. I am here to follow negotiations
and lobby country officials on the need
to establish a circum-polar network of marine
reserves that will afford the scale and
level of protection that is needed. I am
pleased to say that I am not alone. Tonight
sees the launch of the newly formed Antarctic
Oceans Alliance, a joint initiative supported
by ASOC (Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition),
Mission Blue, Last Ocean, Oceana, Oceans
Five, Forest and Bird and ECO as well as
Greenpeace. The aim is ambitious — to ensure
the creation of a network of Southern Ocean
marine reserves, at least in an order of
magnitude larger than anything established
so far.
While I have no illusions
that it’s going to be easy, it’s a great
team of people from across the environmental
and oceans NGOs, many of whom I’ve worked
with over the years, some of whom at one
time or another sailed on the good ship
Greenpeace. Over the next months and years,
let us hope CCAMLR distinguishes itself
by living up to the expectations of those
who worked for its creation and sets the
benchmark for the conservation of marine
life of the high seas by establishing a
large-scale network of marine reserves that
includes the entire Ross Sea.
