Bigger network, fewer nets

By L.M.

THE toothfish, found in southern waters, is an unlovely creature. All gawping mouth and bulging eyes, it was called the ugliest fish on the planet by Greenpeace. But when it arrives on a plate under a more appealing name, Chilean sea bass, it is becomes a tasty—and expensive—restaurant dish. The export value for all the toothfish found in the waters around the Antarctic is put at $110m. As a consequence, the threat of commercial fishing looms ever larger. The toothfish is not alone in the freezing waters around the south pole. Many of the 10,000 other species found there are unique to the region. Not all are as valuable (or as ugly) but they, too, sometimes get caught up in vast nets laid by illegal fishers. And overfishing of krill, a tiny crustacean that other marine life feed on, threatens the whole eco-system of the region.

Responsibility to protect marine life in the Antarctic region rests with a commission established under the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), signed 30 years ago as part of the Antarctic Treaty System. In 2002 this body agreed to create a network of marine protected areas (MPAs), the watery equivalent of forest reserves, by this year. This looks unlikely to happen. But some progress is being made to protect what are among the most pristine seas in the world, rich in biodiversity and relatively untouched by human activity.

For an area to be protected, one (or more) of the convention's 25 member countries must formally propose it. This is done on the basis of the "best available scientific methods", which are meant to prove its value as a marine reserve. CCAMLR's scientific committee then inspects the proposal. Finally, all members of the Convention must agree before an area can be marked as protected.

The commission created the first Antarctic MPA in 2009 when the British government proposed listing an area near the South Orkney Islands, home to some 1,200 species. A second listing is expected this year. New Zealand and America are presently working on a scenario (jargon for a kind of draft proposal) to protect the Ross Sea. According to conservationists, the Ross Sea is the most intact marine ecosystem on the planet, with large populations of all its top predators still present.

But there may still be roadblocks, frets Steve Campbell of Antarctic Ocean Alliance, an advocacy made up of a nine conservation groups including Greenpeace and the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition. The Ross Sea is stocked with krill and holds some $30m worth of toothfish, which could lead CCAMLR members to consider economic interests over environmental concerns. But the success of the South Orkneys Marine Protected Area is encouraging. And there are big plans for the future. Last year CCAMLR listed 11 areas that it considers "high priority" as prospective MPAs. Mr Campbell's group has identified 19 areas in total. Listing the Ross Sea is a step in the right direction.