| inbluevt | Date: Wednesday, 2013/09/11, 11:07 PM | Message # 1 | DMCA |
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EXCLUSIVE / A proposal by the US and New Zealand to cut a planned Marine Protection Area (MPA) for the Ross Sea by 40% - and remove its permanent status - is being linked to souring US-Russian relations by the Pew Charitable Trust, a leading American think tank.
The plan to create a 2.3 million square km reserve – the world’s largest – in the Ross Sea was initially put forward in July by the European Union, together with Australia and France on behalf of its overseas territories.
But the proposal was blocked by surprise Russian objections centred on their fishing interests, at a meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) in Bremerhaven, Germany.
US officials have now responded with a revised and humbler plan, which removes protected status from spawning grounds for toothfish and vulnerable Sea Mounts in the Ross Sea’s north.
Some believe that the proposed reserve, which would cover the most pristine and fragile ecosystem left on earth, has fallen victim to bilateral tensions, centred on Syria and Iran.
“Everyone is still a bit mystified by what happened in Bremerhaven,” said Andrea Kavanagh, the director of the Pew Charitable Trusts’ Southern Ocean Sanctuaries project. “It has been tough to understand exactly what Russia’s intentions and interests are.”
"I do have to speculate that the Ross Sea proposal might be suffering because of the current state of US-Russian relations,” she told EurActiv. If so, it would be a significant departure from how the two countries had worked on Antarctic protection in last 50 years, she added.
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Emperor Penguins swimming in the Ross Sea, Antarctica.
Message edited by inbluevt - Wednesday, 2013/09/11, 11:09 PM |
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