DHAKA: Delegates from 24 countries and the European Union have agreed that the Ross Sea in Antarctica will become the world’s largest marine protected area (MPA).

Some 1.57 million sq km (600,000 sq miles) of the Southern Ocean will gain protection from fishing for 35 years, reports the BBC.

Environmentalists have welcomed the move to protect what’s said to be the Earth’s most pristine marine ecosystem.

They believe it will be first of many such zones in international waters.

At this meeting in Hobart, Australia, the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) agreed unanimously to designate the Ross Sea as an MPA, after years of protracted negotiations, New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully announced.

The Ross Sea, its shelf and slope only comprise 2 percent of the Southern Ocean but they are home to 38 percent of the world’s Adelie penguins, 30 percent of the world’s Antarctic petrels and around 6 percent of the world’s population of Antarctic minke whales.

The region is important to the rest of the planet as the upwellings of nutrients from the deep waters are carried on currents around the world.

The Ross Sea is also home to huge numbers of krill, a staple food for species including whales and seals. Their oil is critical for salmon farming.

However there are concerns that overfishing and climate change are having significant impacts on their numbers.

The proposal, introduced by New Zealand and the US, and accepted by all the other nations, will see a general protection “no-take” zone where nothing can be removed including marine life and minerals.

As part of the compromise that emerged in negotiations, there will be special zones where fishing from krill and tooth fish will be allowed for research purposes.

At the end of negotiations last year, they were the one country holding out against a consensus on the Ross Sea.

But this year there has been what Pugh describes as an “environmental glasnost”.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has designated 2017 as the Year of Ecology and the country has recently expanded an MPA around Franz Josef Land in the Arctic.

One of the key questions in the negotiations was how long the MPA should last.

China is on the record as stating it believes that 20 years is long enough for a designation.

Many conservationists say this is far too short, given the lifespan of creatures that life in the Ross Sea, such as whales.

Ultimately, the parties agreed on 35 years.

BDST: 1419 HRS, OCT 28, 2016
NJ/BD