PRELIMINARY PROPOSAL FOR MARINE SPATIAL PROTECTION AROUND THE SOUTH ORKNEY ISLANDS

This paper proposes the establishment of a protected area to the south of the South Orkney Islands (within Subarea 48.2), to contribute towards the conservation of marine biodiversity and the development of representative marine spatial protection for this region. The proposed area has been selected on the basis of analysis previously recommended by WG-EMM for consideration by the Scientific Committee (WG-EMM-09 Report, paragraph 5.23). The paper describes the processes used to identify areas of conservation importance and the selection of candidate sites for protection. In addition, the paper discusses the need for further work required to achieve a comprehensive, adequate and representative network of marine protected areas within Subarea 48.2 and across the Southern Ocean, as previously agreed by the Scientific Committee (SC-CAMLR-XXVII, paragraph 3.55). The paper invites the Scientific Committee to: i) Endorse the work undertaken to date and recommend the adoption of a protected area (covering the region marked in Figure 3) contributing towards the conservation of marine biodiversity in Subarea 48.2 (South Orkney Islands), for which special use restrictions including a prohibition on fishing but allowing activities such as some scientific research (to be further elaborated by the Commission) would apply; ii) Recommend to the Commission that further intersessional work be undertaken in relation to the additional areas of conservation importance identified in this paper, with a view to finalising any further proposals for specific areas for protection around the South Orkney Islands at CCAMLR-XXIX; iii) Discuss procedures for implementing the type of marine spatial protection proposed in this paper.