China, Russia Block All Attempts To Protect Antarctic Oceans; Now Year 5 w/o Conservation Agreement
For the fifth year in a row, a council of nations involved in Antarctic fishing operations have failed to agree on new conservation measures which experts had hoped would protect the Southern Ocean from overfishing, particularly of the keystone krill species. Members of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), the body responsible for Antarctic marine conservation, were not able to agree on new Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Weddell Sea, the Antarctic Peninsula and in East Antarctica, the latter of which was first proposed in 2011.
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Conservationists and marine experts have been particularly worried by the increase in Antarctic krill fishing by several countries — many of whom were part of the CCAMLR meeting — driven by global demand for premium krill oil supplements. Prior to this year’s meetings, CCAMLR members including India, South Korea, Ukraine, Norway, and Uruguay agreed to MPAs in East Antarctica and the Weddell Sea. The U.S. also voiced its support for MPAs in April this year. But at this year’s meetings, China and Russia blocked all proposals, pushing instead to maintain their fishing rights. Both countries, who have a history of opposing MPAs, have been stepping up their presence in the Antarctic fishery. Russia announced it is investing $640 million into krill fishing, and within a single year, China more than doubled its catch, from 50,423 tons in 2019 to 118,353 in 2020, according to CCAMLR reports.
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Krill are the most abundant species in the world, with a biomass of 400 million tons in the Antarctic. As the main food source for most wildlife in the region including whales, penguins and seals, any disruption to krill populations will ripple across the ecosystem. “The Antarctic Peninsula where the krill fishery operates is one of the fastest warming places on earth, and we know that warming is and will continue to have negative effects on krill,” said Bransome.
Krill are integral in influencing atmospheric carbon levels, and have the capacity to remove up to 12 billion tons of carbon every year from the Earth’s atmosphere. In the past decade, krill have been most commonly harvested as aquaculture feed, fish bait, and, more recently, krill oil dietary supplements. "The majority of the Southern Ocean food web feeds on swarms of Antarctic krill. Competition for krill is increasing as the human demand for krill products increases,” said Bransome. The expanding Antarctic krill fishery now includes 14 vessels, mostly operating in Area 48, an immensely biodiverse region that is home to more than 62 million tons of krill.
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https://news.mongabay.com/2021/11/countries-fail-to-agree-on-antarctic-conservation-measures-for-fifth-straight-year/
