Australia today reaffirmed its commitment to the proposal it has with the European Union to create a marine protected area in East Antarctica with the aim is to mitigate the effects of fishing and climate change.

The proposal will be debated between the 16th and 27th of this month at the 36th annual meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), which brings together 24 countries and the European Union (EU).

"Together with the European Union we have revised the proposal to clarify where can carry out the different fishing activities and simplify the objectives so that the results of the conservation are clearer, "said Gilliam Slocum, Australian commissioner to the CCAMLR said in a statement.

Slocum noted that the CCAMLR's decision last year to approve the creation of a Marine Protected Area (MPA) of about 1.5 million kilometers squares in the Ross Sea, which was proposed by the United States and New Zealand, is encouraging.

"It is important that we build at this time in favor of creating a system of marine protected areas to help monitor and understand the effects of fisheries and climate change on ecosystems in Antarctica and the Southern Seas, "he said.

The proposal, which on the CCAMLR table since 2011 initially comprised around 1.9 million square kilometers, but currently covers just under one million square kilometers in the areas of MacRobertson, Drygalski and MAr D'Urville-Mertz in Otarian Antarctica.

The plan also contemplates the multiple use of marine protected areas, ie " activities, including fishing, will be permitted within MPAs as long as they do not have an adverse impact on conservation or scientific objectives, "according to the The Australian Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC), made up of organizations such as Greenpeace and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD).

consider that the proposal should prohibit all types of fishing, including scientific.

ASOC also seeks to protect East Antarctica indefinitely from Unlike the Ross Sea MPA where fishing is restricted for 35 years to prevent krill capture from feeding Antarctic animals.

other proposals that are discussed in the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources are the creation of a marine protected area in the Weddell Sea driven by Germany, and another on the Antarctic Peninsula from Argentina and Chile.

Australia also expects the CCAMLR to adopt the "Work Program in Response to Climate Change" to to improve considerations on the impact of climate change on the work of the Commission and to review measures to ensure measures to protect black hake, he added. statement from the ADA.