By creating a network of Southern Ocean marine reserves, we could establish a network of no take areas, an order of magnitude greater than

anything that has been achieved before,

Stephen Campbell, Antarctic Ocean Alliance. The oceans around Antarctica are some of the most pristine in the world and the last place on Earth still relatively untouched by human activity. This beautiful, icy ocean environment is home to nearly 10,000 highly adapted species, many of which can be found nowhere else on the planet. Adlie and emperor penguins, Antarctic petrels and minke whales, Ross Sea killer whales, colossal squid and weddell seals all thrive in this inhospitable climate. Global ocean circulation is largely driven by the deep water formation around Antarcticas coast, driving heat transfer and transporting essential nutrients to the rest of the worlds oceans. One of the crown jewels of the Antarctic is the Ross Sea. While marine ecosystems in other parts of the globe are threatened and devastated by development, pollution, mining, oil drilling and over shing, Antarcticas Ross Sea the ocean equivalent of Africas great plains because of its richness of marine life remains the most intact marine ecosystem on the planet, with large populations of all its top predators still present.

NOW FOR HER OCEANS

Be part of the legacy

Antarcticas land is protected

With thanks to John Weller for all featured photography.

GOING, GOING, GONE?

As the worlds oceans continue to run out of sh due to decades of overshing, more and more shing vessels are travelling to remote areas such as Antarcticas Southern Ocean to ll their holds. With 85% of the worlds sheries classied as over exploited, fully exploited, depleted, or recovering from depletion according to the UNs Food and Agriculture Organisation, even this regions slow-growing, deep sea species are sought by legal and illegal shing interests. While Antarcticas oceans teem with life, its species are now under increasing pressure from industrial shing for the slow-growing and long-lived Antarctic and Patagonian toothsh, (known in some countries as Chilean sea bass). Toothsh is an expensive delicacy sold in high-end restaurants as well as speciality seafood markets primarily in the United States, Japan and Europe. Fishing in the Ross Sea began in 1996, when vessels from New Zealand headed to the area, and it has since become a shing ground for longline vessels in search of Antarctic toothsh. Twelve countries have legally sent vessels to this exploratory shery since 2000. In 2010 alone, 18 vessels from seven countries were catching toothsh in this largely untouched ocean wilderness. Fishing by illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) vessels, often using ags of convenience, is on the rise in some Antarctic areas as is the use of unsustainable shing methods such as deep sea gillnets.Gillnets can reach more than 100 kilometres in length and are a threat to almost all marine life including marine mammals and non-targeted sh species such as rays. Krill, a small crustacean that grows to 6cm, thrives in the oceans around Antarctica and is an essential part of the food chain that supports the regions whales, penguins, seals, sh and birdlife. There is a growing demand for krill in health supplements and as food for sh farms. Climate change has already been linked to a signicant decline in krill numbers up to 80% in one region around the Scotia Sea (Atkinson et al 2004) where the ice that is home to the algae and plankton they feed on decreased. Both the regions krill and the entire ecosystem that depends on it are at risk from climate change and large-scale commercial harvesting. Poor management and the large-scale removal of toothsh and species like krill will threaten the very balance of Antarcticas unique and fragile ocean ecosystems.

ANTARCTICA: CLIMATE CHANGE LABORATORY

Antarctica is a critical laboratory for the study of climate change as global impacts increase. Antarctic ice cores provide an essential history of greenhouse gas levels and global temperatures. Already, some parts of Antarctica have experienced signicant ice retreat and collapse of ice shelves along the Antarctic Peninsula, the direct result of regional climate change. Average temperatures in this area have risen 2.5C in the last 50 years and temperature variations are impacting the ocean environment as well. Ongoing and uninterrupted climate change and ocean acidication research here is critical to understanding its impact on the region and the earth as a whole.

PROTECTING OCEANS AND LAND

In 1991, through the Madrid Protocol, the international community made a courageous decision to protect the Antarctic region as a natural reserve for peace and science, including implementing a ban on oil and gas development and mining. Through the Protocol, Parties committed themselves to the comprehensive protection of the Antarctic environment and dependent and associated ecosystems. The Protocol entered into force in 1998. An earlier treaty, the 1982 Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), was negotiated with a mandate to conserve and manage Antarctic marine living resources1. Unfortunately, while progress has been made to protect Antarcticas land mass, the tools under these agreements have not yet been applied to effectively protect the regions magnicent marine environment. The Antarctic Ocean Alliance (AOA) is working to establish a network of designated marine protected areas and no-take marine reserves in the Antarctic the most comprehensive regime of its kind on the planet. With such a network in place, key Antarctic ocean habitats and wildlife would be protected from human interference. The AOA is a coalition of leading environmental organisations and philanthropists, including WWF, Greenpeace, the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC), Mission Blue, Oceana, The Last Ocean, Oceans Five, and other groups worldwide.

While progress has been made to protect Antarcticas land mass, the tools under international agreements have not yet been applied to protect the regions magnicent marine environment.

The following organisations make up the Antarctic Ocean Alliance:

About 70% of our Earths surface is ocean, yet less than 1% of it is fully protected from human development.

WHY ANTARCTICAS OCEANS, WHY NOW?

About 70% of our Earths surface is ocean, yet less than 1% of it is fully protected from human development. By creating a network of Southern Ocean marine reserves and marine protected areas, we have the opportunity to establish a network of no take areas an order of magnitude greater than anything that has been achieved before. The preservation of this largely pristine marine ecosystem will not only help restore life in depleted areas but will help build resilience and provide a place for important scientic study, particularly with the impacts of climate change increasing. As CCAMLR has set a timeframe for a representative system of marine protected areas by 2012, there is an unprecedented window of opportunity to establish this network in the oceans around Antarctica as a legacy for future generations.

Associate AOA organisations:

Protecting the Worlds Oceans

BE PART OF THE LEGACY

The Antarctic Ocean Alliance is seeking partner organisations, ambassadors and like-minded activists to join us to call for the protection of Antarcticas wild oceans. With Antarcticas land now protected its time to create an Antarctic ocean legacy for all time.

Be part of the legacy

The Antarctic Ocean Alliance is seeking partner organisations, ambassadors and like-minded activists to join with us to call for the protection of Antarcticas wild oceans. With Antarcticas land now protected its time to create an Antarctic ocean legacy for all time. For more information and to sign up to take action:

For more information and to sign up to take action: www.antarcticocean.org

1

Note: Except cetaceans and seals.

www.antarcticocean.org

Indicative map of areas to be included in a representative system of marine reserves and MPAs in the Southern Ocean
In order to confer the necessary protection to the wide variety of endemic marine life and unique ecosystems of the Southern Ocean, any future marine reserve and marine protected area (MPA) system must be circumpolar, across the whole Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) area and be of ambitious scale to be effective. This map provides an indication of the areas that have been identied by the Antarctic Ocean Alliance (AOA) as priorities on the basis of the best current scientic information. The AOA looks forward to working with CCAMLR Member countries to develop and implement a MR/MPA system that will provide a true legacy for future generations.
Bouvet Island

South Africa

Brazil
South Georgia

Prince Edward Island

9 5 6 2 4 8

1 Antarctic Peninsula

- Climate change reference area - Chinstrap and Adelie penguins

9 Del Cano Region High Seas

Argentina
South Shetland Islands

South Orkney Islands

10 11
Kerguelen Island

2 South Orkney Islands

- High benthic biodiversity - Chinstrap and Adelie penguins

- High levels of land-based predators - Benthic environment including seamounts & canyons

Wedell Sea

3 Weddell Sea

10 Kerguelen Plateau High Seas Area

Mcdonald and Heard Islands Prydz Bay

13

12

- Highly productive area - Climate change reference areas during retreat of sea ice / ice shelves

- The Grand Banks of the Southern Ocean - Recovering toothfish populations - Vulnerable marine ecosystems & canyons - Areas of high productivity - Climate change reference areas

Antarctica
18

11

14

4 South Georgia

- Rare seamount habitats - Penguin and albatross foraging ranges

11 Eastern Antarctic Shelf 12 Banzare Bank

14 17 16
Ross Sea

11 14

5 South Sandwich Islands Arc

- Volcanic activity associated habitats - Land-based predators

- Recovering toothfish populations - Vulnerable marine ecosystems & canyons

15
Balleny Islands

13 Kerguelen Production Zone

- Rugose seabed habitats - Area of high productivity

19

14

6 Maud Rise

- Area of high productivity for krill - Shelf to basin biodiversity including seamounts, canyons, ridges and plateaus

14 Indian Ocean Benthic Environment

Australia

7 Bouvetoya

- Unique benthic environment with mid-ocean ridge rift valleys, fracture zones and seamounts - Foraging area for land based predators

- Unique benthic habitats including troughs, shelf commencing canyons, ridges and thermohaline current formed sediments - Toothfish breeding habitat - Benthic biodiversity

15 Pacific Seamounts 16 Ross Sea

17 Amundsen & Belllingshausen Seas (West Antarctic Shelf)

- Climate change reference areas - Recognised vulnerable marine ecosystems

New Zealand

8 Ob & Lena Banks

- Recovering populations of toothfish - Rare seamount habitats

- Intact top predator assemblage - Least disturbed oceanic ecosystem - Climate change reference area

18 Peter I Island

- Area of high productivity - Pacific Basin, De Gerlache, Belgica Guyot & Lecointe Seamounts

19 Balleny Islands

- Land-based predetor foraging ranges - Rare benthic habitat

www.antarcticocean.org