Over 20 countries and the European Union have agreed to protect 1.6 million square kilometers of Antarctica to protect the area’s pristine nature. The protected area is the world’s largest offshore protection.
The historic agreement was signed in Australia on Friday during a meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of the marine living resources of the Antarctic (CCAMLR).
The protected area in the Ross Sea covers almost 1.6 million square kilometers – equivalent to the total area of the UK, Germany and France.
Ross Sea is one of the world’s last great pristine marine ecosystems, and the protected area is home to penguins, seals and whales, as well as tooth fish and massive amounts of krill.
1.22 million square kilometers of the protected area, there will be a total ban on commercial fishing.
– The final agreement balances conservation, sustainable fishing and that is in the interest of the scientific, says New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Murray McCully.
Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today
