A Network of Marine Protected Areas in the Southern Ocean - Protecting one of Earth’s last great wilderness areas

A fact sheet from May 2019 Philippe Bourseiller A Network of Marine Protected Areas in the Southern Ocean Protecting one of Earth’s last great wilderness areas Overview The Southern Ocean, surrounding Antarctica, is one of the least altered marine ecosystems on Earth. [...] To protect this spectacular region, The Pew Charitable Trusts and its partners are working with the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) and its member governments to establish a network of large-scale marine protected areas (MPAs) around Antarctica. [...] The many remarkable King Long-finned pilot species of the Southern Ocean make up some of the most Southern rockhopper Sperm intact marine ecosystems on the planet, where scientists Macaroni Sei are continually discovering new marine biodiversity, and Arnoux’s beaked can study nature in the absence of human interference. [...] In 2016, the annual CCAMLR meeting showcased an example of such cooperation with the consensus designation of the world’s largest MPA, in the Ross Sea. [...] Figure 3 Pieces of the Ecosystem Puzzle: Status of MPAs in the Southern Ocean Pew’s vision for a Southern Ocean MPA network Size of existing CCAMLR MPA planning domain or proposed MPA status Pew’s vision for MPA network of MPAs Existing CCAMLR MPA Existing MPAs in need of expansion Current MPA proposal No MPA currently or additional protections established or draft scenarios being in place within.