UK welcomes agreement on largest Marine Protected Area
The world's experts on Antarctic marine conservation have this week agreed to establish a marine protected area (MPA) in Antarctica's Ross Sea. At the meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), all Member countries agreed to a joint USA/New Zealand proposal to establish a 1.55 million km2 area of the Ross Sea with special protection from human activities. This area of ocean is equivalent in size to the UK and France combined. Read more
World's largest marine protected area declared in Antarctica
Delegates from 24 countries and the European Union have agreed that the Ross Sea in Antarctica will become the world's largest marine protected area (MPA). Some 1.57m sq km (600,000 sq miles) of the Southern Ocean will gain protection from commerical fishing for 35 years. Read more
Marine Protected Areas increase 10-fold in a decade
A 10-fold rise in Marine Protected Areas has been recorded over a decade. A report to a UN meeting on biodiversity in Hyderabad reports that more than 8.3 million sq km - 2.3% of the global ocean area - is now protected. Read more
The US is to establish what it calls "the largest area of protected sea in the world" around its Pacific islands. Commercial fishing and mining will be banned in the protected zones which include the Marianas Trench, the deepest area of ocean on the planet. The area totals 500,000 sq km of sea and sea floor.