Fishing ‘moratorium' could help save climate-stressed Antarctic species, say A-list scientists
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Loading... - Caitlin Meyer Bosman
- 01 Nov 2022
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Plunging more than 7km at its deepest point near the South Sandwich Islands, the Southern Ocean is unusually deep in global terms.
But so is the deep, deep trouble that faces an ocean region that also embraces the Antarctic Circumpolar Current — our planet’s climate engine.
Here, the diversity of animals — many are found nowhere else on the planet — is exceptional, while large surviving marine ecosystems represent unmatched ecological, scientific and diplomatic value.
The Southern Ocean is also a global sea-level moderator.
So why is this sensitive, emissions-battered biosphere at the bottom of the world — critical to known life in the observable universe — still in the apparent crosshairs of about 12 nations for, among others, a fraction of the world’s fishmeal supplies?
Seen against this rhetorical question, it may seem no small wonder that the Southern Hemisphere’s frigid blue heart is still being fished at all.
Now an international group of scientists has called on Antarctica’s fish products and research body, meeting in Tasmania during closed-door talks, to reconsider how it manages a 10% stretch of the world’s oceans, which is pounded by multiple stressors. Especially, it would seem, fishing interests and the climate crisis.
Writing in a trenchant call-to-action published in the journal Science, an A-list of polar scientists — led by the University of Colorado Boulder — notes: “The region and its suite of global values are critically threatened by climate change, which is exacerbated by commercial fishing, an activity that provides value for relatively few industrial actors.”
Apart from the US, the international cohort of authors is also based in Australia, Canada, Malaysia, Norway, South Africa and Switzerland.
Food for everyone — except those who need it most?
CCAMLR, called “Camelahr” by those in the know, is often lauded for its achievements as the marine species conservator of the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS), the international framework that has reserved the region below 60°S latitude for peaceful and scientific ideals since 1959.
But this commission is restricted to just 26 decision-maker states, plus the EU — a number that now includes Ecuador joining during the present meeting. South Africa and Namibia are the only African states, alongside world powers such as China, France, Russia, the UK and the US.
If anything, it is a low-profile club of heavyweight nations gathered in the Tasmanian capital of Hobart for two-week deliberations — even though it is the cleaner-energy transition by all humanity that will ultimately decide what happens to remote waters connecting all other major oceans. Read More…
