World's Largest Marine Park Created In Ross Sea In Antarctica

"A landmark international agreement to create the world’s largest marine park in the Southern Ocean has been brokered in Australia, following five years of compromises and failed negotiations.

Over 1.5m sq km of the Ross Sea around Antarctica will be protected under the deal brokered between 24 countries and the European Union. It means 1.1m sq km of it – an area about the size of France and Spain combined – will be set aside as a no-take “general protection zone,” where no fishing will be allowed at all.

But significantly, the protections are set to expire in 35 years.

The agreement came on Friday, at the conclusion of two weeks of discussions between delegates from 24 nations and the European Union in Hobart, at the annual meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR)."

Michael Slezak reports for the Guardian October 27, 2016.