Freedumb! US & New Zealand Cut Size Of Proposed Antarctic Marine Reserve Nearly In Half
The Government has bowed to international pressure and slashed the size of a proposed marine sanctuary in Antarctica’s Ross Sea. A joint New Zealand-United States plan for the reserve was today scaled back from 2.3 million to 1.34 million square kilometres.
The original bid included a 1.6sq km no-take zone which would only allow fishing for scientific research. That is now 1.25sq km.
Restrictions already exist in the pristine environment, but officials in Wellington and Washington were fighting to establish the world’s biggest marine protection area (MPA) to protect the waters and overfishing of toothfish.
Fishing nations, including Norway, China, Japan, Chile and South Korea, were opposed to the size of the reserve and Russia scuttled the bid at a special meeting in Germany in July. Conservationists this week warned the NZ-US proposal would be diluted to try to win support at fresh talks by the 25-nation Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) in Tasmania next month.
EDIT
http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/9134466/Ross-Sea-proposed-sanctuary-slashed