Delay Means Extinction — Help Lock Down Protections Around Antarctica

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Sponsor: Free The Ocean

Antarctica’s seas power a global carbon pump that cools the planet, yet only 5% of this vast region is protected while factory trawlers harvest the krill that penguins, seals and whales need to survive. 

Delay Means Extinction — Help Lock Down Protections Around Antarctica

Antarctica’s waters act as Earth’s largest carbon vault. Night-migrating fish ferry carbon two kilometers down, locking it away for centuries1. Swarms of Antarctic krill feed penguins, seals, and great whales while shuttling nutrients that spark blooms across the globe4. This engine steadies weather patterns and cools our atmosphere.

Rapidly Escalating Threats

Today that balance buckles. Industrial fleets crowd the Antarctic Peninsula, hauling thousands of tonnes of krill from shrinking ice margins. Penguin colonies have collapsed by more than half since the 1980s6. Lost longlines drift for decades, snaring wildlife and shedding microplastics into fragile food webs2. Grey-water dumping pours detergents and heavy metals into once-pristine bays2. Meanwhile, warmer seas strip oxygen, forcing sharks and tuna toward waiting hooks1.

A Dangerous Protection Gap

Only 5% of the Southern Ocean lies inside marine reserves3. Scientists, treaty parties, and the United Nations High Seas negotiations all agree: at least thirty percent of global oceans must be fully protected by 2030 to keep ecosystems and economies afloat5. CCAMLR already has fully drafted proposals for East Antarctica, the Weddell Sea, and the Antarctic Peninsula. Enacting them now would lift secure coverage to ten percent—an essential first step.

The clock runs fast. Krill fleets plan record catches next season. Deep-sea mining ventures eye nodules on untouched sea floors1. Each delay erodes the climate service that shields every coastal community.

Call For Action Now

CCAMLR meets soon. Delegates can choose bold stewardship or another year of stalemate. Make sure they hear a global demand for action.

Add your name—call on CCAMLR to create new Marine Protected Areas and safeguard Antarctica’s life-support system before it slips away.

More on this issue:

  1. Callum M. Roberts, Emilia Dyer, Sylvia A. Earle, Andrew Forrest, Julie P. Hawkins, Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, Jessica J. Meeuwig, Daniel Pauly, Stuart L. Pimm, U. Rashid Sumaila, Johan Rockström & Mark Lynas, Nature (25 Jun 2025), “Why we should protect the high seas from all extraction, forever.”
  2. Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (12 Jan 2024), “Marine Protected Areas.”
  3. British Antarctic Survey, (5 Mar 2023), “Marine Protected Areas.”
  4. The Pew Charitable Trusts (24 Jun 2024), “The Need for a Network of Marine Protected Areas in the Southern Ocean.”
  5. Natasha B. Gardiner, Marine Policy (1 Dec 2020), “Marine protected areas in the Southern Ocean: Is the Antarctic Treaty System ready to co-exist with a new United Nations instrument for areas beyond national jurisdiction?.”
  6. ASOC (14 Aug 2021), “Antarctic Peninsula MPA.”
  7. ASOC (3 Oct 2022), “Ghost Fishing Gear in the Southern Ocean.”

The Petition

To CCAMLR Member States and Observers,

We, the undersigned citizens of the global community, respectfully urge CCAMLR to fulfill its conservation mandate by adopting, at the next annual meeting, a package of new Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) that will bring no-take or highly protected coverage of the Southern Ocean to at least 10 % of all Antarctic marine and coastal regions.

Why Action Is Urgent

The Southern Ocean drives a powerful biological pump that locks away vast quantities of carbon and regulates global temperatures. Disturbance to this engine endangers climate stability worldwide.

Concentrated krill fishing and warming waters have slashed some penguin colonies by more than 50 % and threaten whales, seals, and countless endemic invertebrates.

Each year abandoned longlines and nets—stretching hundreds of kilometers—continue “fishing” unseen, while unregulated gray-water dumping and microplastic discharge compound ecological stress.

Leading researchers and international bodies agree that protecting at least 30 % of the global ocean by 2030 is essential for ecosystem resilience. CCAMLR’s own commitment to a representative MPA network remains only partially fulfilled.

Our request

  • Adopt the Pending East Antarctic, Weddell Sea, and Antarctic Peninsula MPA Proposals without dilution of size, duration, or protection level.
  • Establish Additional High-Priority Zones—including Domain 9 (Bellingshausen and Amundsen Seas)—to reach the 10 % threshold immediately.
  • Guarantee Strict No-Take Core Areas and robust research & monitoring plans to ensure ecological integrity and transparency.
  • Align CCAMLR Measures with emerging obligations under the UN High Seas Treaty, demonstrating Antarctic leadership in global ocean stewardship.

The Way Forward

By designating these MPAs, CCAMLR will:

  • Safeguard critical nursery and feeding grounds for krill, toothfish, penguins, and whales.
  • Preserve intact climate-regulating processes that benefit every nation.
  • Provide reference areas for scientists to distinguish human impacts from natural variability, guiding smarter fisheries management.
  • Showcase multilateral cooperation at a time when environmental leadership is urgently needed.

Together, we can secure a resilient Southern Ocean that continues to cool the planet, nourish wildlife, and inspire future generations. Your decisive action today will help ensure a healthier, safer tomorrow for all life on Earth.

Sincerely,

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