MEDIA RELEASE

22 October 2018

The Governor of Tasmania, Her Excellency Professor the Honourable Kate Warner AC, will today open the thirty-seventh annual meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR).

The Governor will welcome some 280 marine scientists, resource managers and policy makers representing 25 international delegations, who will review current practice and consider new measures to conserve and manage marine ecosystems in the Southern Ocean.

Representatives from other Contracting Parties as well as intergovernmental, environmental and industry organisations will also participate in the meetings as official observers, adding their voices to the issues under discussion.

This year’s CCAMLR meetings will:

• Review research and monitoring plans in the Ross Sea region MPA and the South Orkney Islands southern shelf MPA
• Review proposals to establish three new MPAs – in East Antarctica, in the Weddell Sea, and in the Western Antarctic Peninsula – contributing to a representative system of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in Antarctic
• Review cooperation with adjacent organisations in the South Pacific, South Atlantic and Indian oceans
• Consider proposals to improve capacity building for CCAMLR members and Non-Contracting Parties to engage in CCAMLR work
• Review the implications of climate change for CCAMLR
• Attend to routine business such as setting catch limits and research parameters for toothfish, icefish and krill.

CCAMLR is a consensus-based organisation consisting of 25 Members (24 countries and the European Union). The Member responsible for chairing the Commission meeting changes every two years. This year, the Commission meeting will be chaired by South Africa. Representing the nation as Chair is Dr Monde Mayekiso, a diplomat of many years’ standing, and long-term delegate to CCAMLR.

The Commission meeting considers scientific data and recommendations from its Scientific Committee which has supported the meetings of several expert specialist groups throughout the year. This year, the Scientific Committee will once again be chaired by Dr Mark Belchier from the United Kingdom.

“At this year’s meetings of the Scientific Committee and Commission, CCAMLR Members will continue to work collaboratively to find mutually acceptable outcomes to a range of challenges to take CCAMLR’s management of the Southern Ocean into the future,” said Dr Belchier.

The past year has seen many success stories and CCAMLR is pleased to have recorded the lowest ever reports of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing as well as the lowest ever seabird mortality from bycatch. These successes are attributed to the development of effective management measures developed by CCAMLR and the cooperation shown by CCAMLR Members in implementing them.

Since 1982, with the support of the Tasmanian State and Australian Commonwealth Governments, the CCAMLR Secretariat has been located in Hobart, where it maintains an office of 25 staff. The annual meetings of CCAMLR provide a valuable contribution to the intellectual and economic life of Hobart.

Media representatives are invited to attend the Governor’s opening of the Commission on 22 October at 9:00am (sharp), to be held at CCAMLR Headquarters, 181 Macquarie Street, Hobart, Australia. Please allow time for check-in and collection of passes at reception.

Media will then be excused once the meeting commences until a media briefing at 10:30am.

RSVP by 12:00pm 19 October so that security passes can be ready upon arrival.

The Schedule for the Thirty-Seventh Meetings of the Commission and the Scientific Committee is available on the CCAMLR website.

Please note: there will be no media conference at the close of the meeting. However, a release will be published on the CCAMLR website and sent to the CCAMLR media mailing list.

What is CCAMLR?

• The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources
• Established by an international treaty in 1982
• Its objective is the conservation of Antarctic marine life while providing for rational use
• 25 Members and a further 11 countries have signed the Convention
• The Secretariat (international Headquarters) is at 181 Macquarie Street, Hobart, Australia
• Further information, including a five-minute video outlining the work of CCAMLR, is available on the CCAMLR website.

Media contact:
Narelle Absolom
Phone: +61 3 6210 1168 (direct) or ext. 1111 (reception)
Email: narelle [dot] absolom [at] ccamlr [dot] org