Consensus of 25 Nations Necessary to Protect Antarctic Waters

Two proposals designed to protect huge swaths of open water off the shores of Antarctica are hinged on the unanimous consensus of a 25-nation committee, which is meeting this week in a special session to vote whether to establish conservation zones in the Ross Sea and waters off East Antarctica. However, countries with fishing interests may thwart the international effort to turn the waters into marine protected areas.

New Zealand, which is leading an effort with the United States to secure part of the Ross Sea, is aware that getting each of the nations to agree to the proposal is an up-hill battle.

"I'd simply want to say that getting 25 countries to agree is always challenging, particularly when you take account of the fact that some have primarily fishing interests, others have primarily conservation or science interests," New Zealand foreign minister Murray McCully said, according to The New Zealand Herald.

The joint N.Z.-U.S. proposal would protect a 2.27 million square kilometer (876,452 square mile) area in the Ross Sea.

"The total size of the marine protected area we are proposing is roughly 3 1/2 times the size of Texas," Ambassador Mike Moore, the former prime minister of New Zealand, said last week.

But because the waters off Antarctica's coast are considered international territory, the creation of marine preserves will require international consensus.

A special session of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) is underway in Bremerhaven, Germany.

When CCAMLR met last fall to discuss the proposals, a consensus could not be reached, as Russia, China and Ukraine were concerned about losing fishing rights in the seas, according to NPR.

If the countries again fail to reach a consensus in Bremerhaven, they could attempt to reach an agreement at a future meeting, but The New Zealand Herald reports that the nation felt the current opportunity was the best chance to get approval for the proposal and that further delays will exacerbate the risk of failure.

"If we want to introduce this conservation measure, then well-grounded scientific arguments need to be put forward ... Unfortunately, they are lacking here," Ukraine's delegation said, according to the Herald.

In addition to opposition held by Russia and the Ukraine, the Herald reported that Japan and South Korea also held reservations about the proposed marine protection area.

A separate proposal aimed to create seven marine protected areas in waters off East Antarctica is put forward by Australia, France and the European Union. It faces the same unanimous consensus challenges as the U.S.-New Zealand proposal.

The Ross Sea is rich in wildlife; many whales, penguins and seals swim through its waters. Jim Barnes, of the conservation group Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition, called the Ross Sea one of the few relatively untouched regions left in the world. 

Barns expressed dismay after some CCAMLR member countries suggested that the proposed protection in the area come to an end after a number of years. "It's like creating a national park," Barnes said, "and it shouldn't suddenly come to a halt. So that's one of the really contentious issues that remain."

Finding a working solution may prove difficult, as countries are reluctant to give up short-term economic profit for long-term environmental gain.

"It's always difficult for countries to make a decision between short-term profits for industry and long-term benefits for the environment," said Karen Sack of the Pew Charitable Trust.