Antarctic science requires a protected Antarctica and the Southern Ocean

This paper argues that science requires protected environments and ecosystems to enable differentiation of the effects of climate change from other sources of impact on the Southern Ocean, such as fisheries, and ensure that the objective of the Convention is consistently achieved in a climate change context. Required actions by CCAMLR include:

• Step up science: Continue to develop best available science, including through contribution of individual Members to international research programs and observatories, research and monitoring plans for marine protected areas (MPAs), and an updated CCAMLR Ecosystem Monitoring Program (CEMP).
• Step up protection: Establish marine protected areas of an appropriate scale, including of significant no take zones, to minimize ecosystem stresses; and
• Step up precaution: Adopt a far more precautionary approach to the establishment of total allowable catch (TACs) to ensure compliance with the principles of Art. II (3) of the Convention, and higher scientific standards for adopting fishing proposals.. 

These are the starting points for detailed work in all these areas (science, protection, and precaution). In time, these actions may help to better integrate or harmonise large scale spatial protection that aligns with CCAMLR and global objectives with the rational implementation of Southern Ocean fisheries.