He again failed to designate new marine protected areas in Antarctica, which environmentalists urgently demanded. The 40th CCAMLR Conference in Hobart, Australia German Environmental Aid (DUH) and the German Media Science Center announced that it ended Friday after a difficult struggle with no progress. Specifically, the goal is to protect an area of about four million square kilometers in East Antarctica, West Antarctica and in the species-rich Weddell Sea. It would be the greatest naval protection measure in history.
The federal government and many other states have been campaigning for the protected area for years. China and Russia have succeeded in blocking the proposal so far. Both countries fish in the area, especially krill and hake. The protected area under the auspices of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) will impose fishing quotas or ban them altogether, explains German delegate to the CCAMLR, Thomas Bree of the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven. A protected area can make an important contribution to achieving global biodiversity goals and protecting Antarctic ecosystems in the long term. This The goal of the United Nations is to conserve and sustainably use the seasthat ten percent of the world’s oceans should be under protection by the end of 2020. Currently, it’s only seven percent, according to a Science Media Center (SMC) press release.
Hunting puts animals living in Antarctica under pressure
According to Berry, it’s “not a short-term drama” that the three MPAs weren’t defined this year either. “Because these areas are not directly threatened by human activities,” Berry says. “Antarctica is uninhabited, there is no commercial shipping, tourism is restricted to small areas of the peninsula, the extraction of raw materials is prohibited, and fishing is well-controlled by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources.” , for example. In addition, Antarctic ecosystems are increasingly suffering from global warming. Hunting puts additional pressure on the animals that live in Antarctica. »Krill hunting removes the most important food source for many organisms such as whales and penguins. As a result, they have to travel longer distances to find enough food for themselves and their offspring,” says Rainer Froze of the GEOMAR Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research in Kiel, according to SMC. Krill stocks are already declining. Their hunting must stop.”
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