- The government of the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands (SGSSI), which operates as a British overseas territory, recently announced that it had established new no-fishing zones over 166,000 km² (64,100 mi²) of its existing marine protected area, and prohibited krill fishing in an additional 17,000 km² (6,600 mi²) of the MPA.
- These new no-fishing zones were established to protect krill-dependent marine wildlife, including baleen whales and penguins, while also considering the fisheries operating in the area, which target krill and other species.
- While conservationists initially pushed for further protections, they ultimately accepted the decision, with one calling it a “positive and good outcome.”
- However, Argentina, which claims the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands as part of its Tierra del Fuego province, has expressed its dissatisfaction with the SGSSI government’s decision.
Thousands of miles off the southeast coast of South America lies a set of remote islands, one broad and comma-shaped, the others a series of small dots that trail off into the South Atlantic Ocean. These are the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands, located north of the icy mass of Antarctica.
The islands, which the U.K. governs as an overseas territory but which Argentina also claims, are inhabited by millions of seals and birds, and the surrounding waters teem with fish and krill. Baleen whales, such as humpback (Megaptera novaeangliae) and fin (Balaenoptera physalus) whales, make yearly migrations to this area to feast on the surplus of krill.
On Feb. 26, the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands (SGSSI) government, which acts as an extension of the U.K. government, announced a decision to safeguard the marine biodiversity within its jurisdiction. A preexisting 1.24-million-square-kilometer (479,000-square-mile) marine protected area (MPA) around the islands was originally established in 2012, and it banned all bottom trawling as well as bottom fishing at depths less than 700 meters (2,300 feet). The government has now established new no-take zones within the MPA that will be adopted into SGSSI legislation. These new no-take zones prohibit all fishing on a total of 166,000 km2 (64,100 mi2) of the MPA, an area about eight times the size of Wales.
Prior to these protections being put in place, the existing MPA already had 283,000 km2 (109,300 mi2) of other no-take areas. With the new no-take areas, the MPA is now 36% fully protected.
The SGSSI government also implemented “pelagic closed areas” that prohibit krill fishing over an additional 17,000 km2 (6,600 mi2) of SGSSI’s MPA, although this area is open to fishing at depths of 700-2,250 m (2,300-7,400 ft).
The designation of these new protections occurred after a lengthy review process led by the U.K. government’s Blue Belt Programme, which has protected more than 4.3 million km2 (1.7 million mi2) of the marine environment within the jurisdiction of the U.K.’s overseas territories over the last eight years. The review process involved many stakeholders, including government officials, fisheries representatives, scientists, and conservation experts at NGOs.
The decision to establish these new no- and limited-fishing zones was made with krill-dependent marine wildlife in mind, according to Johnny Briggs, principal officer at the Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy, a partnership between Philadelphia-based NGO Pew Charitable Trusts and Swiss philanthropist Dona Bertarelli that campaigned for the increased protection of SGSSI and participated in the MPA review process. Examples include chinstrap penguins (Pygoscelis antarcticus) and humpback whales, whose populations have rebounded up to 90% of what they were in pre-whaling days.
Humpback whales may have bounced back, but other species, including different baleen whales like fin and blue (Balaenoptera musculus) whales, are not doing as well, and experts are concerned about the present and future impacts of fishing and human-induced climate change on species in the South Atlantic. Research suggests that the South Pole has warmed three times faster than the global average, resulting in significant ice melt. This loss of sea ice has forced some species to move to more habitable places or it has led to their decline. Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba), for instance, depend on sea ice to breed and feed, and experts believe krill are decreasing as sea ice wanes. At the same time, fishing effort is increasing in the area, and when fishing pressure and the impacts of climate change combine, they can impact species heavily. For instance, one study found that krill-fishing pressure and climate change were reducing populations of chinstrap and gentoo penguins (Pygoscelis papua). The region is also beginning to feel the effects of the avian influenza virus H5N1, which scientists first detected on the Antarctic Peninsula in January, and which has adapted to spread between birds and seals and sea lions.
“If you can lock in and ensure that these key areas that [krill-dependent species are] feeding in will not be fished in the future, you’re giving them the best chance possible as the climate is changing,” Briggs told Mongabay. “As everything is uncertain, you’re supporting this ecosystem as much as possible.”
How will the new protections affect krill fishing?
The SGSSI government had to carefully consider the fisheries operating in the South Atlantic when deciding how to implement the no- and limited-fishing areas.
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands are located in the middle of Antarctic krill-fishing territory. Every year, industrial trawlers make their way south to scoop up these tiny, shrimp-like crustaceans by the hundreds of thousands of tons. The krill are then processed into fish feed, as well as pet food and krill oil supplements.
While other fisheries operate in the South Atlantic, targeting Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides), Antarctic toothfish (D. mawsoni) and mackerel icefish (Champsocephalus gunnari), the Antarctic krill fishery is the largest in the region. In 2022, the fishery, which only consists of about a dozen vessels, harvested more than 415,000 metric tons of krill, and is set to expand as demand soars for krill-based fish feed to be used in the rapidly growing aquaculture industry. While it’s estimated that there are about 62 million metric tons of krill in the area where the fishery operates, experts are concerned that climate change and fishing pressure will radically reduce this biomass.
The SGSSI government is responsible for issuing licenses for any fishing that takes place within its maritime zone, and it can also impose certain regulations on these fisheries. However, it’s an international body known as the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), which operates as part of the part of the Antarctic Treaty System, that allocates catch limits. The CCAMLR has specified that the total allowable catch for krill is 5.6 million metric tons each year across the Southwest Atlantic sector, which is divided between four sub-areas. It has also set a so-called trigger level, or actual catch limit, of 620,000 metric tons each year, which is about 1% of the estimated biomass for this region.
Mark Belchier, the director of fisheries and environment of the SGSSI government, who played a key part in implementing the new protections, said the management of SGSSI’s maritime zone follows a “mixed approach,” with some parts fully protected and others allowing regulated fishing.
“There needs to be recognition that no-take zones are not necessarily the only tool in the box and that there’s a whole range of other things that are going to have meaningful conservation benefits,” Belchier told Mongabay.
For instance, he said, the SGSSI government prohibits krill fishing during the seven-month period that falls over the austral summer in an attempt to reduce competition between fishers and krill-dependent foragers, such as seals and penguins.
Javier Arata, executive officer of the Association of Responsible Krill Harvesting Companies (ARK), who participated in the review process for the SGSSI MPA but was not part of the decision-making process, said the new no- and limited-fishing areas will slightly displace krill fishing, but will not entail significant changes to krill-fishing operations.
“We are content with the decision,” Arata told Mongabay. “I think there is a good balance between the need to protect some pelagic areas and also to maintain the regular regulated fishery, both for krill and for toothfish. The main factor behind the expansion of the MPA was to try to improve the protection of whales.”
A ‘positive’ outcome?
Some conservationists initially pushed to ban krill fishing across an even larger area of the SGSSI MPA, arguing that such a move would have created an even stronger sanctuary for baleen whales, their food sources, and numerous other species. However, they ultimately welcomed the decision to exclude all fishing from 166,000 km2 of SGSSI’s MPA and to close another 17,000 km2 to krill fishing.
Adrian Gahan, policy officer for the U.K. NGO Blue Marine Foundation, who also participated in the review process as chair of the Great Blue Ocean Coalition, a group of organizations working to protect U.K. territorial waters, said he sees the decision as a “positive and good outcome.”
He added that the news is especially welcome considering the difficulties of getting the CCAMLR to approve a proposal to establish a network of MPAs in East Antarctica, the Weddell Sea and the Antarctic Peninsula, which would cover a total of more than 4.5 million km2 (1.7 million mi2). In October 2023, CCAMLR members rejected this MPA proposal for the seventh year in a row, despite having committed to creating “a representative network of MPAs” in 2009.
“Given the dysfunction of CCAMLR, which hasn’t really made progress on MPAs … we feel this is the most positive contribution that the U.K. can provide at this time while still respecting and engaging with the CCAMLR process,” Gahan told Mongabay.
However, Argentina, which claims the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands as part of its Tierra del Fuego province, has expressed its dissatisfaction with the SGSSI government’s decision. Following the MPA announcement, Argentina’s foreign minister, Diana Mondino, reaffirmed Argentina’s sovereignty over the Falkland Islands (known in Argentina as the Islas Malvinas), which the U.K. also claims sovereignty over.
When asked if all states will obey the MPA rules due to Argentina’s claim on the islands, Belchier said it’s “very hard to predict.”
“To date, we have not had an issue with unlicensed vessels in the region,” he said in an email, “but the risk remains.”
Banner image: Baleen whales, such as humpbacks (Megaptera novaeangliae), make yearly migrations to this area to feast on the surplus of krill. Image by ArtTower via Unsplash (Public domain).
Elizabeth Claire Alberts is a senior staff writer for Mongabay’s Ocean Desk. Follow her on Mastodon, @ECAlberts@journa.host, Blue Sky, @elizabethalberts.bsky.social, and Twitter @ECAlberts.
Amid record melting, countries fail again to protect Antarctic waters
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