Environmental groups says Russia key to Antarctic marine protection
NAN-F-3
Environment
Sydney, Oct. 25, 2016 (dpa/NAN) The success of ongoing negotiations to create large marine sanctuaries in the waters surrounding Antarctica depends on Russian cooperation, environmentalists said on Tuesday.
The environmentalists said that more than 24 nations plus the European Union are currently in Hobart, Australia for a meeting.
“The meeting is holding in order to negotiate the creation of marine protected areas as part of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR).
“In 2015, all participants except for Russia, agreed to one of the deals.
“We know domestically Russia has taken significant decisions for environmental protection,’’ Mike Walker, Project Director of the Antarctic Ocean Alliance, said.
He said that the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had discussed marine protection in the southern waters.
The waters surrounding Antarctica are one of the areas in the world least affected by humans and are home to thriving populations of species such as krill, fish, whales and penguins.
“Last month the Russian Federation voted to increase marine protected area coverage to 30 per cent of the ocean by 2030 at the World Conservation Congress.
“Russia also declared 2017 the Year of Ecology and recently significantly increased the size of the protected marine area around Franz Josef Land in the Arctic.
“The size of one of the proposed protected areas, home to more than 14,000 unique species, is approximately 5-6 million square km,” Carl Lundin, Head of the Global Marine Program said.
The landmass of Antarctica is already a designated protected area.
However, the Antarctic waters have long been an area of dispute for conservationists and commercial fishing interests.
Earlier proposals for broader protected areas have been repeatedly blocked due to a lack of consensus among member states.
A single veto can block the deal.
Lundin said some of the countries want “limited amount of time for the protection.
“Conservationists are “hesitant because it’s a fisheries management tool, not for marine protection.”
“All scientific and anecdotal evidence show that marine protection works best when it is a fixed, large area,” he said.
Walker said the Southern Ocean has remained somewhat intact till now.
“It is vital to safeguard the region to protect the marine ecosystem as a whole because the Southern Ocean – 10 per cent of the entire ocean system – operates as its engine room.
“It plays a critical role in the health of the marine system.
“This is the only ocean that circumvents the world,” he said.
Walker said the agreement will be historic, if adopted by the consortium, and would create the largest marine protection area in the world.
According to scientists, more species will move towards the Antarctic as the water warms, making no-take marine reserves important.
“These reserves will act as ‘climate refuges’ for marine life. As species struggle to adapt to warming waters, we want to make sure they are not put under extra pressure from fishing.
“Meanwhile Antartica’s penguin population is among those vulnerable to climate change in the region, as the reduction of ice cover diminishes their habitat, while fishing poses a threat to their food source.
“Protected areas also help create resilience among species and from over-fishing, Sharks live a very long life but they have low reproduction,’’ the environmentalists said.
The environmentalists said that Sharks are easy to fish and wipe out quickly.
“These are the types of species we would be protecting, most of this fishing was for luxury food dishes,” Lundin said. (dpa/NAN)
(Edited by Damilola Oyewole/Julius Enehikhuere)