For Immediate Release
Contact: Blair Palese, AOA: +61 414 659 511
Contact in Japan: FoE Japan: 03 6907 7217

Decision time for world’s largest marine reserve proposals
in Antarctica’s Southern Ocean“Opportunity for global leadership and lasting legacy”
BREMERHAVEN, Germany, July 11, 2013 – As representatives of the 25 Members1 of the Commission for theConservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) started their meeting in Bremerhaven, Germany
today the Antarctic Ocean Alliance called it a landmark opportunity for ocean protection. CCAMLR Members
will decide the fate of two key proposals for Antarctic marine protection, either of which would be the world’s
largest Marine Protected Area (MPA) if designated.
The special CCAMLR meeting, from 11 – 16 July, has been called because the Commission could not agree on
the two proposals, years in the making, at its meeting last October. All CCAMLR decisions require consensus ofthe Members. The CCAMLR Scientific Committee will meet from 11 – 13 and CCAMLR Delegates, or decision
makers, will meet from 15 – 16 July to decide the outcome of the two proposals.
The United States and New Zealand propose that CCAMLR designate a Ross Sea MPA of 2.3 million square
kilometres including a "fully protected " area of 1.6 million square kilometres. The Ross Sea is often referred
to at “the last ocean” because it is one of the only large ocean habitats that is still relatively intact and home
to a unique array of marine wildlife. A second proposal from Australia, France and the European Union would
designate seven marine protected areas in East Antarctica covering about 1.63 million square kilometres.
“More than 1 million people around the world have joined the global call for large-scale marine protection in
Antarctica over the last two years,” said Steve Campbell, Director, Antarctic Ocean Alliance. “If CCAMLR
Members decide in favour of the Ross Sea and East Antarctic proposals, that will leave a lasting legacy of
immense value to the world.”
The Southern Ocean is home to more than 10,000 unique species including most of the world’s penguins,whales, seabirds, colossal squid and the commercially targeted Antarctic toothfish. The region is critical forscientific research, both for studying how intact marine ecosystems function and for determining the impactsof global climate change.
The Antarctic Ocean Alliance partners will attend the CCAMLR meeting in Bremerhaven working to ensure
CCAMLR delegates to step up to the challenge and designate the Ross Sea and East Antarctic proposals.
###Contact:
Blair Palese, AOA Communications Director: blair@antarcticocean.org, +614 1465 9511
Richard Page, Greenpeace: richard.page@greenpeace.org, +44 7801212966
1 CCAMLR Members includes 24 countries and the European Union.

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Bob Zuur, WWF: bzuur@wwf.org.nz, +64 27 444 3210
Note: High-resolution video b-roll and photos of Antarctica’s Southern Ocean and interviews with AOA
partner experts in English and German are available at:
http://www.reru.com.au/Mediafiles/Antarctic_Ocean_Alliance/Videos/.
Information:www.antarcticocean.org, www.pewenvironment.org/Southernocean
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Antarctic-Ocean-Alliance/233933866663875?fref=ts
Twitter: #Antarcticocean, #JointheWatch
About: The Antarctic Ocean Alliance is a coalition of high-profile individuals such as actor Leonardo DiCaprio,
actor and UN Biodiversity Ambassador Edward Norton, oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle and entrepreneur Sir
Richard Branson as well as 30 leading environmental groups. These include The Pew Charitable Trusts,Greenpeace, WWF, Humane Society International, the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC), theBlue Marine Foundation (UK), Mission Blue (US), Oceans 5 (US), Deep Wave (Germany), The Last Ocean, theKorean Federation for Environmental Movement (KFEM), Greenovation Hub (China), Forest & Bird (NZ), ECO(NZ), and associate partners the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Oceana, the International Fundfor Animal Welfare (IFAW) and Ocean Planet (Australia).

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