Antarctica2030, a global movement uniting leaders to champion the protection of Antarctica’s Southern Ocean, is urging governments meeting in Hobart from 19 to 30 October to adopt the Antarctic Peninsula Marine Protected Area (Domain 1 MPA) and agree a roadmap to complete their commitments to safeguard the Southern Ocean by 2030.
The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) has established two MPAs, around the South Orkney Islands and in the Ross Sea region. Still, it has designated no new protected areas since 2016, despite committing in 2009 to complete a representative system of MPAs by 2012.
Months of bilateral engagement with governments, industry leaders, and civil society have strengthened confidence that a breakthrough is achievable this year. Capitals and coordinated diplomacy will need to resolve outstanding differences without deviating from the Convention’s conservation mandate.
“Antarctica has a long history of successful international cooperation that offers a basis for further progress,” said José María Figueres, Chair of Antarctica2030. “Sustained political support can help negotiators work towards consensus. Our discussions suggest there may be hope for an agreement, but much will depend on continued engagement by leaders in the lead-up to Hobart and during the meeting itself.”
The Southern Ocean helps regulate the Earth’s climate, stores carbon and drives global ocean circulation. Its marine life depends on habitats ranging from coastal feeding grounds to deep seabed communities. A representative MPA system would protect key parts of these different ecosystems, preserving food webs and ecological processes across the region. By limiting direct human pressures in important areas, MPAs can also support resilience as environmental conditions change, and provide reference sites for scientific research.
The immediate priority is the proposed 456,000 km² Antarctic Peninsula, or Domain 1, MPA. This biologically rich region supports penguin and seal colonies and feeding grounds for migratory whales, with krill sustaining much of the food web. Warming and changes in sea ice are altering these habitats as fishing becomes increasingly concentrated in the same waters.
The proposed MPA would safeguard important feeding and nursery areas. Its General Protection Zone would prohibit krill fishing within coastal foraging ranges of nesting and breeding animals, while fishing in a separate zone would be subject to seasonal closures in addition to existing CCAMLR measures.
A precautionary krill fishery management approach must be adopted alongside the MPA, proceeding on a parallel track. The fishery reached its catch threshold months early for a second consecutive year in 2026. The new approach should distribute fishing through spatial management units, further split catches in winter and summer seasons, strengthen ecosystem monitoring, including for whales, and allow for a stepwise, precautionary, science-based catch increase. Any increase must be grounded in the best available science, supported by robust monitoring and proceed in step with the advancement of the wider MPA system.
“Protecting nursery and feeding habitats serves an ecological purpose that catch limits alone cannot fulfil. Likewise, the MPA alone will not provide the precautionary management needed for sustainable krill fishery,” said Zac Goldsmith of Antarctica2030. “Governments have the means to conserve these areas while managing fishing responsibly. The outcome must safeguard the wider ecosystem and put those protections fully into effect.”
Beyond the Antarctic Peninsula, proposals for East Antarctica and the Weddell Sea would extend conservation across distinct habitats and species. The Weddell Sea, for example, has been identified as a potential climate refuge for cold-adapted wildlife and offers scientists opportunities to study environmental change in waters with limited human activity. Together, the outstanding proposals would protect millions of square kilometres, making a substantial contribution to the global goal of protecting 30 per cent of the ocean by 2030.
A roadmap agreed at CCAMLR-45 must set out a credible political pathway to fulfil the Commission’s 2009 commitment to establish a representative MPA network by 2030.
“Agreeing the Antarctic Peninsula MPA should establish momentum that carries through to the full Southern Ocean,” said Monica Medina of Antarctica2030. “Governments should leave Hobart with a common understanding of the decisions that follow to complete representative Southern Ocean protection, and how to deliver them by 2030. That would be a lasting contribution to ocean conservation and effective multilateral cooperation.”
