| Summary: | We have reached a critical turning point for Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Southern Ocean. The Southern Ocean contains features of exceptional ecological value and scientific importance. It is one of the last great wildernesses of the world which has not yet been heavily impacted by human activity. There is growing international pressure for the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) to provide more protection for Southern Ocean ecosystems than the current Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (RFMO) framework provides. This report explores the use of MPAs as a management tool in the Southern Ocean. MPAs are effective management tools as they promote conservation and recovery of fish stocks at the ecosystem level. The success of MPAs in both near shore and high seas contexts were explored. Near shore MPAs have ample scientific evidence of their success but it was concluded that high seas have not been established for long enough to provide conclusive evidence of success. For MPAs on the high seas to succeed they must be well planned, include adequate resources to combat Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing and provide flexibility through adaptive management. While CCAMLR is governed by consensus decision making, the key challenge in the establishment of MPAs will be to balance the different agendas of conservation and exploitation of the 25 CCAMLR Members. The solution most likely to gain consensus is a create a network of MPAs in the Southern Ocean that incorporate a mixture of managed harvest and no-take areas. We expect that by the end of 2013 if CCCAMLR Members will reach consensus on the Ross Sea MPA Proposal, the Southern Ocean will then have its first large-scale, high seas MPA. This is an important step in creating a network of MPAs that will protect and conserve the Antarctic marine resources for us, and for future generations, to enjoy
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