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Antarctic Marine Protected Areas - Options for the Balleny Islands Archipelago

Jacqui Burgess Emma Waterhouse, Alan Hemmings, Peter Wilson and Matthew Paterson

Ministry of Fisheries, WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND

Theme: TH2

Historically, the protected areas system in the Antarctic Treaty area has focussed on terrestrial and nearshore areas. No general marine protected areas exist. However, once Annex V (Area Protection and Management) to the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty enters into force, it will be possible to designate any marine area, as either an Antarctic Specially Protected Area (ASPA), or an Antarctic Specially Managed Area (ASMA). This contribution explores the processes for designating a marine protected area under the Protocol, and the role of the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), which has a mandatory role in such a proposal. Using the Balleny Islands as a case study we examine the options for establishing a marine protected area. The issues posed here - the relative claims of access for marine harvesting, tourism, scientific research, and those for restricting access to secure environmental or scientific values, the question of appropriate size of the area, etc. - are germane to marine protected areas anywhere in Antarctica. The Balleny Islands archipelago in the northern Ross Sea is a 160 km chain, orientated NW-SE, between 66^o 15'S – 67^o 10'S, and 162^o 15'E - 164^o 45'E that straddles the Antarctic Circle. Up till now, only one small island (Sabrina) in the group has been accorded protected area status.