Marine life in spotlight

THE protection of three marine areas off East Antarctica’s coast, about one million square kilometres in total, will be the focus when international delegates meet with conservationists in Hobart next week.

The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, a body made up of 24 international member states and the European Union, meets annually to discuss a range of issues relating to the marine life in the waters around Antarctica.

The commission will meet with the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition, which consists of environmental and conservation groups World Wildlife Fund and Greenpeace, from Monday.

ASOC campaigns for the creation of a network of marine protection areas in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica. At this year’s meeting it will call for the designation of three areas in the waters off East Antarctica.

The East Antarctic MPA was first proposed by Australia, France and the EU in 2011 but no agreement has been reached. It covers three areas, including the MacRobertson, Drygalski and D’Urville SeaMertz areas.

WWF Antarctic program head Chris Johnson said the agreement could help protect penguin species, whale feeding areas, seals, and commercially taken krill and finfish.

“We will [undertake] conservation of the areas, modelling activities and [consider] rational use in terms of the balance between commercial and conservational principles,” he said.

He said the commercial fishing agendas of some countries could get in the way of an agreement but he was hopeful common sense would prevail.

Last year the group designated the Ross Sea as the world’s largest marine protected area.