Compliance Evaluation and Sustainable Resource Management in the CCAMLR

Regional fisheries organisations globally are feeling the impacts of non-compliant behaviour by both contracting and non-contracting parties. Non-compliance arising from activities such as illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, or failures by flag states to appropriately report the activities of their vessels, has resulted in damage to the environment and damage to the performance of regional fisheries management organisations themselves. As a result, many of these organisations are adopting and implementing a relatively new mechanism to tackle non-compliance: the compliance evaluation procedure. This article demonstrates that by adopting a compliance evaluation procedure, regional fisheries organisations are better placed to identify and address non-compliance in an effort to improve compliance with their conservation measures. It analyses in detail the procedure adopted by one particular organisation, the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), to suggest that implementation of their procedure has improved transparency, accountability and enforcement. It is argued that the CCAMLR compliance evaluation procedure represents a model for other polar and high seas areas to promote sustainable, and responsible, fishing practices globally.

Finding the ‘Conservation’ in the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources

The Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) was adopted in the 1980s amid concerns of a growth in unregulated fishing in the region. The Convention’s objective – ‘the conservation of Antarctic marine living resources’ – reflects the negotiators’ intention for CCAMLR’s responsibilities to extend beyond fisheries responsibilities to the conservation of all species and marine ecosystems in the Convention’s area. The intention of CCAMLR’s objective has generated significant debate throughout CCAMLR’s 39 years of operation, and there appears to be no common agreed understanding. A review of management measures adopted by the Commission is one method for considering how the Commission has approached delivering its objective. This paper reviews management measures in force from 1982 to 2019 and concludes that, while CCAMLR has made significant advances regarding the delivery of ecosystem-based and precautionary fisheries management, it has generated significantly fewer management measures that might stand independently of fisheries management or extend to species or habitats not directly impacted by fishing operations.

Biological Prospecting in Antarctica – A Solution-Based Approach to Regulating the Collection and Use of Antarctic Marine Biodiversity by Taking the BBNJ Process into Account

Areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ) are covering nearly two-thirds of the world’s oceans and are rich in biological diversity. These also include the Polar Regions, where marine organisms adapted to extreme environments and led to increased scientific interest and activities, including bioprospecting activities. As a result, marine biodiversity is increasingly threatened. Thus, the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) was established to ensure the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity but left ABNJ and bioprospecting activities widely unregulated. In Antarctica, for instance, bioprospecting has raised concerns, and the matter has been discussed since 2002. As a result, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Resolution 69/292 concluded the establishment of a new international legally binding instrument (ILBI) on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity for ABNJ. However, the inclusion of the Antarctic Treaty Area remains unclear. In light of the current BBNJ negotiations, the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM) only acknowledges the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS) as the appropriate framework to regulate these activities in Antarctica. Further, it seems to aim for regulation under the ATS, if at all. Therefore, this paper discusses a solution-based approach for possible regulation of the collection and use of Antarctic marine biodiversity. The negotiations and achievements of the current BBNJ process will be taken into account, as they might provide support for the regulation of these issues in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean.

Towards Integrated Management of Regional Marine Protected Area Networks

Marine protected areas (MPA s) are an important tool for protecting marine ecosystems both within and beyond national jurisdiction, but the integrated management of MPA s is challenging due to the institutional fragmentation that exists in international ocean governance at global and regional levels. In the absence of fundamental reform of international ocean governance, integrated management of MPA s can at present only be achieved through cross-sectoral cooperation and coordination between relevant international institutions. Understanding regime interaction in this context requires an analysis of both the relevant legal framework and the manner in which coordination mechanisms operate in practice. This article carries out a case study of regime interaction between the Antarctic Treaty and the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, as well as other relevant institutions, in order to identify the key opportunities and challenges for promoting the integrated management of regional MPA networks in practice. It will also consider how the cooperative arrangements for the regional management of the Southern Ocean may provide lessons for the development of a new legally binding instrument for the conservation and management of biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction.

Metagenomics of Antarctic Marine Sediment Reveals Potential for Diverse Chemolithoautotrophy

The impacts of climate change in polar regions, like Antarctica, have the potential to alter numerous ecosystems and biogeochemical cycles. Increasing temperature and freshwater runoff from melting ice can have profound impacts on the cycling of organic and inorganic nutrients between the pelagic and benthic ecosystems.

Retreating Shorelines as an Emerging Threat to Adélie Penguins on Inexpressible Island

Long-term observation of penguin abundance and distribution may warn of changes in the Antarctic marine ecosystem and provide support for penguin conservation. We conducted an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) survey of the Adélie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) colony on Inexpressible Island and obtained aerial images with a resolution of 0.07 m in 2018. We estimated penguin abundance and identified the spatial extent of the penguin colony. A total of 24,497 breeding pairs were found on Inexpressible Island within a colony area of 57,507 m2. Based on historical images, the colony area expanded by 30,613 m2 and abundance increased by 4063 pairs between 1983 and 2012. Between 2012 and 2018 penguin abundance further increased by 3314 pairs, although the colony area decreased by 1903 m2. In general, Adélie penguins bred on Inexpressible Island at an elevation <20 m, and >55% of penguins had territories within 150 m of the shoreline. This suggests that penguins prefer to breed in areas with a low elevation and close to the shoreline. We observed a retreat of the shoreline on Inexpressible Island between 1983 and 2018, especially along the northern coast, which may have played a key role in the expansion of the penguin colony on the northern coast. In sum, it appears that retreating shorelines reshaped penguin distribution on the island and may be an emerging risk factor for penguins. These results highlight the importance of remote sensing techniques for monitoring changes in the Antarctic marine ecosystem and providing reliable data for Antarctic penguin conservation.

Description of the First Four Species of the Genus Pseudogymnoascus From Antarctica

The genus Pseudogymnoascus represents a diverse group of fungi widely distributed in different cold regions on Earth. Our current knowledge of the species of Pseudogymnoascus is still very limited. Currently, there are only 15 accepted species of Pseudogymnoascus that have been isolated from different environments in the Northern Hemisphere. In contrast, species of Pseudogymnoascus from the Southern Hemisphere have not yet been described. In this work, we characterized four fungal strains obtained from Antarctic marine sponges. Based on multilocus phylogenetic analyses and morphological characterizations we determined that these strains are new species, for which the names Pseudogymnoascus antarcticus sp. nov., Pseudogymnoascus australis sp. nov., Pseudogymnoascus griseus sp. nov., and Pseudogymnoascus lanuginosus sp. nov. are proposed. Phylogenetic analyses indicate that the new species form distinct lineages separated from other species of Pseudogymnoascus with strong support. The new species do not form sexual structures and differ from the currently known species mainly in the shape and size of their conidia, the presence of chains of arthroconidia, and the appearance of their colonies. This is the first report of new species of Pseudogymnoascus not only from Antarctica but also from the Southern Hemisphere.

Saliniquinone Derivatives, Saliniquinones G−I and Heraclemycin E, from the Marine Animal-Derived Nocardiopsis aegyptia HDN19-252

Four new anthraquinone derivatives, namely saliniquinones G−I (1−3) and heraclemycin E (4), were obtained from the Antarctic marine-derived actinomycete Nocardiopsis aegyptia HDN19-252, guided by the Global Natural Products Social (GNPS) molecular networking platform. Their structures, including absolute configurations, were elucidated by extensive NMR, MS, and ECD analyses. Compounds 1 and 2 showed promising inhibitory activity against six tested bacterial strains, including methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative staphylococci (MRCNS), with MIC values ranging from 3.1 to 12.5 μM.