Governments meeting in Hobart, Australia, from October 19 to 30 face renewed pressure to expand marine protection in the Southern Ocean, as conservation organisations call for a new Antarctic Peninsula reserve, tighter controls on krill fishing and a timetable for completing a wider network of protected areas by 2030.
The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), the international body responsible for conserving Antarctic marine ecosystems while regulating the sustainable use of marine resources, has designated no new marine protected areas (MPAs) since the Ross Sea region reserve was agreed in 2016. The impasse leaves proposals covering the Antarctic Peninsula, East Antarctica and two areas of the Weddell Sea awaiting decisions.
The Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC), a conservation alliance, is urging member governments to use this year’s meeting to move beyond years of negotiations. Its priorities include adopting the proposed Antarctic Peninsula MPA, revising krill fishery management and agreeing on a roadmap to establish a representative network of protected areas across the Southern Ocean by 2030.
The dispute has implications for both biodiversity and the management of commercial fishing. Antarctic krill, small crustaceans that form a central part of the Southern Ocean food web, support penguins, seals and whales. Conservation groups say fishing has become increasingly concentrated in areas used by wildlife to feed, creating concerns about how commercial harvesting interacts with climate-driven changes in sea ice and ocean conditions.
The proposed Antarctic Peninsula MPA, developed by Chile and Argentina, is intended to protect important habitats and feeding grounds while providing reference areas for scientific research. ASOC puts the proposed area at approximately 456,000 square kilometres, although the precise boundaries and size depend on the version of the proposal under consideration. Australia’s Antarctic programme describes the Domain 1 proposal as covering approximately 670,000 square kilometres.
The peninsula is an important area for Antarctic wildlife and has experienced rapid regional warming. Changes in sea ice and ocean conditions can affect krill availability and the species that depend on it. A protected area could reduce some direct pressures from human activities and give scientists areas in which to study ecological change, although protection alone would not remove the effects of global warming.
Claire Christian, executive director of ASOC, said governments needed to resolve outstanding differences and adopt the Antarctic Peninsula proposal at this year’s meeting. The coalition is also calling for progress on the East Antarctic and Weddell Sea proposals, arguing that separate protected areas need to form a coherent network rather than remain isolated conservation measures.
The broader proposal is tied to the international goal of protecting 30% of the world’s land and ocean by 2030. ASOC estimates that the four proposed Southern Ocean protected areas, alongside existing reserves, could protect about 26% of the Southern Ocean and contribute 2.6 percentage points towards the global ocean-protection target. The figures depend on the areas ultimately agreed and designated.
CCAMLR already has a framework for establishing MPAs. Its first was the South Orkney Islands southern shelf reserve, established in 2009, followed by the Ross Sea region MPA, agreed in 2016 and brought into force in December 2017. The commission’s framework requires proposals to specify conservation objectives, boundaries, restrictions on activities, management arrangements and research and monitoring plans.
The lack of additional designations reflects the challenge of securing consensus among members with different priorities for conservation, scientific research and commercial fishing. Reaching an agreement would therefore require governments to reconcile concerns over how protected areas are designed and managed, including the activities permitted within their boundaries.
Krill fisheries are a parallel focus of the negotiations. ASOC is calling for fishing to be distributed across smaller spatial management units, stronger ecosystem monitoring—including monitoring of whales and more precautionary catch limits. The aim is to reduce the risk that fishing pressure becomes concentrated in feeding areas where wildlife depends on krill.
Holly Parker Curry, ASOC’s MPA campaign director, said progress would require sustained diplomatic engagement before the meeting, while Nicholas Kirkham of Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy highlighted the need to consider wildlife feeding requirements when setting fisheries measures. WWF-Australia’s Ocean Conservation Manager, Emily Grilly, also called for ecosystem-based management in response to concerns over krill availability and pressure on Antarctic fur seals.
The debate illustrates the relationship between spatial protection and fisheries regulation. An MPA can restrict or manage certain activities within a defined area, but its effectiveness depends on the rules adopted and how they are implemented. Fisheries measures, meanwhile, can regulate harvesting across wider areas and seasons. Conservation groups argue that the two approaches should reinforce each other rather than be treated as alternatives.
For governments, the Hobart meeting is an opportunity to demonstrate whether a long-standing regional conservation commitment can be translated into new measures. The immediate decisions concern protected-area proposals and krill management, but the longer-term issue is whether CCAMLR can maintain a system that balances the sustainable use of marine resources with the protection of ecosystems under growing climate pressure.
The outcome will also matter for the global 30-by-30 agenda, which depends on countries and international bodies turning broad conservation commitments into defined areas with credible management arrangements. For the Southern Ocean, progress will be measured not by the number of proposals under discussion, but by whether governments agree on boundaries, management rules, monitoring and implementation.
