Fisheries management and conservation in the Antarctic: National and international regimes and the problem of implementation

The Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) has at its core the objective to conserve as well as exploit fisheries resources in the Southern Ocean through practical application of an ecosystem approach. Over the 22 years since it came into force CCAMLR has slowly developed its ecosystem approach from the early conservation of single species, to minimizing the direct effects of fishing on the ecosystem (benthic impacts, bycatch, and incidental mortality of seabirds and seats) and incorporating indirect ecosystem effects into its management approaches. However, implementation of conservation measures is as important as promulgating them, and in this regard the strongest areas of implementation have been the areas of national jurisdiction within CCAMLR. Far from undermining international attempts at conservation, the strength of the CCAMLR system is the mutual support that the national and international regimes give each other to provide a high degree of integration of fisheries and conservation goals. This is evidenced by the recent Marine Stewardship Council certifications of South Georgia toothfish and Heard and Macdonald Island icefish. It follows that the largest challenge that CCAMLR faces in furthering its conservation goals is likely to be the control of high seas fishing within the Convention Area. It is unlikely, on current evidence of the development and continuation of illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing in the Convention Area, that the suite of flag state control and trade measures will be able to effectively deal with this problem on their own. It is now necessary for CCAMLR to consider creating a high seas patrol and inspection capability to enforce its management and conservation decisions in high seas areas and areas close to the Antarctic continent.