NZ disappointed at failure to secure marine reserve for Antartica

The New Zealand government today expressed disappointment at the failure of the international community to agree on a proposal for a marine protected area (MPA) in the Antarctic's Ross Sea region.

Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully said many of the groups interested in achieving an MPA in the Ross Sea had underestimated the challenge of securing the agreement of all 25 member states of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), each of whom had a different agenda.

"I have consistently said that it would be difficult to find a way of satisfying the range of interests represented around the CCAMLR table," China's Xinhua news agency quoted McCully as saying in a statement after the CCAMLR meeting in Hobart, Australia.

"However, I very much welcome the fact that New Zealand and the United States have managed to come together with an amended MPA proposal that holds a good chance of eventually finding acceptance," he said.

"I am disappointed that some countries, which do not yet share our view on the priority that conservation interests should attract in the Ross Sea, have held out against agreement at this stage."

However, he was pleased that members had agreed to another meeting in July next year to consider the New Zealand-US proposal further.

"It is clear that we have considerable work to do before that meeting if the joint proposal is to get across the line, but New Zealand is now well placed to play a leadership role in advancing the proposal."

New Zealand and the US had proposed a Ross Sea reserve covering 2.27 million square km, including a zone of 1.6 million square km in which all fishing would be banned.

The Antarctic Ocean Alliance (AOA) of conservation groups said the US, European Union, France, Australia, New Zealand and other nations had worked hard over the two-week meeting to propose a workable way forward.

"All member nations must now take responsibility for ensuring this international body delivers on its commitment to establish a network of MPAs and no-take reserves in the Southern Ocean, albeit later than its promise to do so in 2012," AOA spokesman Steve Campbell said in a statement.

The AOA argued that Antarctic marine ecosystems were under increasing pressure as climate change affected the abundance of important food sources for penguins, whales, seals and birds, and fishing boats focusing on the area to feed the growing demand for seafood in Europe, North America and Asia.