International efforts to protect the South Pole North of the Antarctic have suffered a setback. At a conference on the Australian island of Tasmania, the project failed to set up a protected area of more than 1.8 million square kilometers in the local Weddell Sea. According to participants, the plans of Russia and China were blocked. Also came from Norway resistance.
The proposal for the Weddell Sea came from the EU. He should now be consulted again next year. It would be the largest marine reserve in the world. Colorful fauna is threatened More than 300,000 emperor penguins live in the area. There are also blue whales, elephant seals, Antarctic fur seals and rare seabirds at home. So far, the Weddell Sea has largely been spared fishing because large parts are constantly covered in ice. However, due to the climate crisis, fleets fishing for krill and hake are expected to arrive soon. Hundreds of thousands of tons of krill are fished each year in the areas further north. The Weddell Sea is the largest of the 14 or so marginal seas of the Southern Ocean on the Antarctic continent.
The name comes from the British sailor James Weddell, who penetrated in 1823 in the hitherto virtually untouched area. The Antarctic is an international area. Numerous countries maintain several dozen research stations there. Commission controls usage Every year, the International Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) advises more than two dozen states in Tasmania’s capital Hobart. It is responsible for the control of fisheries and the designation of protected areas. The Antarctic Treaty of 1959 stipulates that the area may be used only for peaceful purposes. Since last year, there is already a protected area, the Ross Sea (Ross Sea), which is about four times the size of Germany.
