In the end of August, we posted about the Obama administration‘s four-fold expansion of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument,a marine sanctuary northwest of the main Hawaiian Islands. Now, twenty-four countries and the European Union have reached an agreement to establish the world’s largest marine sanctuary in Antarctica’s Ross Sea.

“The Ross Sea is widely considered to be the last great wilderness area on Earth and known as the polar ‘Garden of Eden’,” according to a statement from the United Nations Environment Programme. The area is home to “50 per cent of ecotype-C killer whales (also known as the Ross Sea orca), 40 per cent of Adélie penguins, and 25 per cent of emperor penguins.”

At approximately 600,000 square miles, the sanctuary is twice the size of the state of Texas, and slightly larger than the Papahānaumokuākea sanctuary.  Commercial fishing will be totally banned in the Ross Sea sanctuary, but 28 percent of the sanctuary will be designated as research zones, where scientists can catch limited quantities of fish and krill. The area will come under protection on Dec. 1, 2017, and remain a reserve for 35 years.  

“This is a major step in marine conservation not just for the Antarctic but internationally,” said Evan Bloom, head of the United States delegation. “Part of it is the size, but the significance of this is that most of the marine protected area is a no-take area, and that involved 25 countries and complex, long-term environmental negotiations. It is one of the biggest steps for the international community,” Mr. Bloom, a director of the State Department’s Office of Oceans and Polar Affairs, said in a telephone interview with the NY Times from Hobart, Tasmania, at a meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources.

Nations Agree To Establish World’s Largest Marine Reserve In Antarctica