CCAMLR Convention

The Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) was established in 1982 as part of the Antarctic Treaty System. It manages the Southern Ocean ecosystem and is the governing body for all marine living resource conservation in Birdland's surrounding waters.

Summary

CCAMLR was created in response to concerns about the impact of increasing krill catches on the Antarctic marine ecosystem. Unlike traditional fisheries agreements, CCAMLR takes an ecosystem-based approach to conservation -- managing not just the harvested species, but the entire ecosystem that depends on them. This includes the penguin, seal, whale, and seabird populations that form the citizenry and residents of Birdland.

Key Provisions

Article I -- Area of Application

The Convention applies to all Antarctic marine living resources in the area south of 60 degrees South latitude and, for certain species, to the area between 60 degrees South and the Antarctic Convergence.

Article II -- Principles of Conservation

Any harvesting and associated activities shall be conducted in accordance with the following principles:

1. Prevention of decrease in the size of any harvested population to levels below those which ensure its stable recruitment
2. Maintenance of the ecological relationships between harvested, dependent, and related populations
3. Prevention of changes or minimization of the risk of changes in the marine ecosystem which are not potentially reversible over two or three decades

Article IX -- Commission

The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources meets annually to adopt conservation measures. Decisions on substantive matters require consensus, meaning any single member can block a conservation measure.

Birdland's Position: The consensus requirement has historically been used by fishing nations to block stronger protections. The Guins government advocates for qualified majority voting on conservation measures.

Conservation Measures

CCAMLR has adopted numerous conservation measures including:

• Catch limits for krill, toothfish, and icefish across designated subareas
• Fishing season closures to protect spawning populations
• Gear restrictions to minimize bycatch of seabirds and marine mammals
• Vessel monitoring via the Centralized Vessel Monitoring System (C-VMS)
• Catch Documentation Scheme for Patagonian toothfish to combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing

Marine Protected Areas

CCAMLR is the body responsible for designating Marine Protected Areas in the Southern Ocean. Currently:

MPA	Status	Year	Proponents
South Orkney Islands Southern Shelf	Established	2009	United Kingdom
Ross Sea Region	Established	2016	USA, New Zealand
East Antarctic	Proposed	--	Australia, France, EU
Weddell Sea	Proposed	--	Germany, EU
Antarctic Peninsula	Proposed	--	Argentina, Chile

Each established and proposed MPA is documented separately in this section.

Members

CCAMLR has 27 member states and 10 acceding states. Key members include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, China, the European Union, France, Germany, India, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Uruguay.

Full Text

The full text of the CCAMLR Convention is available through the CCAMLR Secretariat at ccamlr.org.