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Marine protected area is long overdue: Humans threaten the Antarctic Peninsula’s fragile ecosystem

<p>Antarctica, the world’s <a href="https://media.nature.com/original/magazine-assets/d41586-018-07183-6/d41586-018-07183-6.pdf">last true wilderness</a>, has been protected by an <a href="https://www.ats.aq/e/antarctictreaty.html">international treaty</a> for the last 60 years. But the same isn’t true for most of the ocean surrounding it.</p> <p><a href="https://www.asoc.org/advocacy/marine-protected-areas">Just 5%</a> of the Southern Ocean is protected, leaving biodiversity hotspots exposed to threats from human activity.</p> <p>The Western Antarctic Peninsula, the northernmost part of the continent and one of its <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0011683">most biodiverse regions</a>, is particularly vulnerable. It faces the cumulative threats of commercial krill fishing, tourism, research infrastructure expansion and climate change.</p> <p>In an <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02939-5">article</a> published in Nature today, we join more than <a href="https://homewardboundprojects.com.au/about/">280 women in STEMM</a> (science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine) from the global leadership initiative Homeward Bound to call for the immediate protection of the peninsula’s marine environment, through the designation of a <a href="https://www.antarcticanow.org/">marine protected area</a>.</p> <p>Our call comes ahead of a meeting, due in the next fortnight, of the <a href="https://www.ccamlr.org/en">international group</a> responsible for establishing marine protected areas in the Southern Ocean. We urge the group to protect the region, because delays could be disastrous.</p> <p><strong>Threats on the peninsula</strong></p> <p>The Southern Ocean <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-how-the-antarctic-circumpolar-current-helps-keep-antarctica-frozen-106164">plays a vital role</a> in global food availability and security, regulates the planet’s climate and drives global ocean currents. Ice covering the continent stores 70% of the earth’s freshwater.</p> <p>Climate change threatens to unravel the Southern Ocean ecosystem as species superbly adapted to the cold struggle to adapt to warmer temperatures. The impacts of climate change are especially insidious on the Western Antarctic Peninsula, one of the fastest-warming places on Earth. In February, temperatures reached a record high: <a href="https://theconversation.com/anatomy-of-a-heatwave-how-antarctica-recorded-a-20-75-c-day-last-month-134550">a balmy 20.75℃</a>.</p> <p>The peninsula is also the <a href="https://theconversation.com/humans-are-encroaching-on-antarcticas-last-wild-places-threatening-its-fragile-biodiversity-142648">most-visited part of Antarctica</a>, thanks to its easy access, dramatic beauty, awe-inspiring wildlife and rich marine ecosystems.</p> <p>Tourist numbers have doubled in the past decade, increasing the risk of introducing invasive species that hitch a ride on the toursts’ gear. More than <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/470576496/Polar-Perspectives-No-1-Is-it-time-for-a-paradigm-shift-in-how-Antarctic-tourism-is-controlled#download&amp;from_embed">74,000 cruise ship passengers</a> visited last year, up from 33,000 in the 2009-10 season.</p> <p><a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-wants-to-build-a-huge-concrete-runway-in-antarctica-heres-why-thats-a-bad-idea-139596">The expansion of infrastructure</a> to accommodate scientists and research, such as buildings, roads, fuel storage and runways, can also pose a threat, as it displaces local Antarctic biodiversity.</p> <p>Eighteen nations have science facilities on the Antarctic Peninsula, the highest concentration of research stations anywhere on the continent. There are 19 permanent and 30 seasonal research bases there.</p> <p>Another big threat to biodiversity in the peninsula is the commercial fishing of Antarctic krill, a small, shrimp-like crustacean which is the <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2017.2015">cornerstone of life</a> in this region.</p> <p><strong>A cornerstone of life</strong></p> <p>Krill is a foundation of the food chain in Antarctica, with whales, fish, squid, seals and Adélie and gentoo penguins all feeding on it.</p> <p>But as sea ice cover diminishes, more industrial fishing vessels can encroach on penguin, seal and whale foraging grounds, effectively acting as a competing super-predator for krill.</p> <p>In the past 30 years, colonies of Adélie and Chinstrap penguins on the Antarctic Peninsula have <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/41242231?seq=1">declined by more than 50%</a> due to reduced sea ice and krill harvesting.</p> <p>Commercial Antarctic krill fishing is largely for omega-3 dietary supplements and fish-meal. The fishery in the waters of the Western Antarctic Peninsula is the largest in the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-2979.2011.00406.x">Southern Ocean</a>.</p> <p>The krill catch here has <a href="https://www.ccamlr.org/en/fisheries/krill">more than tripled</a> from 88,800 tonnes in 2000 to almost 400,000 tonnes in 2019 — the third-largest krill catch in history and a volume not seen since the 1980s.</p> <p><strong>How do we save it?</strong></p> <p>To save the Antarctic Peninsula, one of critical steps is to protect its waters and its source of life: those tiny, but crucially important, Antarctic krill.</p> <p><img style="width: 500px; height: 281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7838471/antarctica-3.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/b40e7f32cd174fa39cb137d91ce94e0f" /></p> <p><span><em>Image caption: </em></span><em><u>A map of the current and proposed marine protected areas under consideration. Cassandra Brooks, Author provided</u></em></p> <p>This can be done by establishing a marine protected area (MPA) in the region, which would limit or prohibit human activities such as commercial fishing.</p> <p>An MPA around the peninsula was first proposed <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336888437_Protecting_Antarctica_through_Co-production_of_actionable_science_Lessons_from_the_CCAMLR_marine_protected_area_process">in 2018</a>, <a href="https://www.ccamlr.org/en/science/mpa-planning-domains">covering</a> 670,000 square kilometres. But the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (the organisation responsible for establishing MPAs in the Southern Ocean) has yet to reach agreement on it.</p> <p>The proposed MPA is an excellent example of balancing environmental protection with <a href="https://theconversation.com/no-take-marine-areas-help-fishers-and-fish-far-more-than-we-thought-119659">commercial interests</a>.</p> <p>The area would be split into two zones. The first is a general protection zone covering 60% of the MPA, designed to protect different habitats and key wildlife and mitigate specific ecosystem threats from fishing.</p> <p>The second is a krill fishery zone, allowing for a precautionary management approach to commercial fishing and keeping some fishing areas open for access.</p> <p><img style="width: 500px; height: 281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7838472/antarctica-2.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/be0da721223d49479b289f835fa16b2b" /></p> <p><span><em>Image caption: </em></span><em><u>A map of the current and proposed marine protected areas under consideration. Cassandra Brooks, Author provided</u></em></p> <p>The proposed MPA would stand for 70 years, with a review every decade so zones can be adjusted to preserve ecosystems.</p> <p><strong>No more disastrous delays</strong></p> <p>The commission is made up of 25 countries and the European Union. In its upcoming meeting, the proposed MPA will once again be considered. Two other important MPA proposals are also on the table in the East Antarctic and Weddell Sea.</p> <p>In fact, for <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/02/antarctic-marine-park-conservationists-frustrated-after-protection-bid-fails-for-eight-time">eight consecutive years</a>, the proposal for a marine park in Eastern Antarctica has failed. Delays like this are potentially disastrous for the fragile ecosystem.</p> <p>Protecting the peninsula is the most pressing priority due to rising threats, but the commission should adopt all three to fulfil their <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/269874896_Competing_values_on_the_Antarctic_high_seas_CCAMLR_and_the_challenge_of_marine-protected_areas">2002 commitment</a> to establishing an MPA network in Antarctica.</p> <p>If all three were established, then more than 3.2 million square kilometres of the Southern Ocean would be protected, giving biodiversity a fighting chance against the compounding threats of human activity in the region.</p> <p><em>Written by <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/marissa-parrott-561432">Marissa Parrott</a>, University of Melbourne; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/carolyn-hogg-1166504">Carolyn Hogg</a>, University of Sydney; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/cassandra-brooks-419939">Cassandra Brooks</a>, University of Colorado Boulder; <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/justine-shaw-299755">Justine Shaw</a>, The University of Queensland, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/melissa-cristina-marquez-1166518">Melissa Cristina Márquez</a>, Curtin University. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/humans-threaten-the-antarctic-peninsulas-fragile-ecosystem-a-marine-protected-area-is-long-overdue-147671">The Conversation.</a> </em></p>

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See Australia: Visiting the Yorke Peninsula

<p>An abandoned mining town might seem like an unlikely place for a back-to-nature holiday, but a combination of an unbeatable location in the middle of a national park that harbours some of South Australia’s best coastal scenery, along with fantastic heritage accommodation, makes Inneston an ideal base to explore the beautiful Yorke Peninsula in South Australia’s deep south.</p> <p>A remarkably intact gypsum mining village that was once home to 200 people but abandoned in the 1970s, Inneston has seven historic buildings, including the former manager’s lodge, post office and gatehouse, that are now self-contained accommodation. There’s a heritage walk around the village that attracts a few day-trippers, but late in the afternoon or early in the morning, chances are the only signs of life you’ll see are the resident emus prowling the deserted streets.</p> <p>Spend your days exploring the surrounding national park, which has a number of good coastal walking trails, including the two-hour return walk to Royston Head – highlights include panoramic coastal views of offshore reefs and islands and Dolphin Beach, where you can swim in water so clear it’s almost invisible.</p> <p>There are more than 40 shipwrecks in the coastal waters – the most famous is The Ethel, which ran aground in 1904 during a storm, and you can still see traces of the half-buried three-masted iron barque at Ethel Beach – but there are also a number of much more modern relics lying forgotten on various bays and beaches. Where there are wrecks, there are lighthouses – there are three in the park – and the one at West Cape is stunning. Built of stainless steel, it gleams by day but is at its most impressive just before dusk when the setting sun paints it gold.</p> <p>On a map the Yorke Peninsula looks a bit like a boot, with Innes National Park on the toe, and the</p> <p>fishing village of Edithburgh at the heel. In between is a coast-hugging drive east to Troubridge Point along the sole of the foot that makes for a fabulous daytrip, past beautiful deserted beaches, gleaming salt flats, cliff-top lookouts and the towering Troubridge Hill lighthouse made from red clay bricks. Dangle a fishing line from the jetty at Edithburgh – once one of the busiest ports in the country when windjammers and ketches loaded up with cargo bound for England jostled for space at the wharf – or cool off with a swim in the sea-water swimming pool.</p> <p><strong>WHERE IS IT?</strong></p> <p>Innes National Park is on the southern tip of the Yorke Peninsula, approximately 300km west of Adelaide.</p> <p><strong>WHY GO?</strong></p> <p>Scenery.</p> <p><strong>WHEN TO GO?</strong></p> <p>Temperatures are moderate most of the year. Summer is usually much drier than the winter months, although winter is a great time for salmon fishing.</p> <p><strong>HOW LONG?</strong></p> <p>2–5 days (minimum 2-night stay in lodges).</p> <p><em>This is an edited extract from </em>Australia’s Best Nature Escapes<em> by Lee Atkinson published by Hardie Grant Books [39.99] and is available in stores nationally.</em></p> <p><em>Photographer: © Lee Atkinson </em></p> <p><img style="width: 250px !important; height: 300px !important;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7822217/image_.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/d253436738eb4bf18dd1036c78be3910" /></p>

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Destination focus: Mornington Peninsula

<p>It’s just an hour from Melbourne but the Mornington Peninsula feels like a world away. Here’s everything you should see and do in the Mornington Peninsula.</p> <p><strong>Do</strong></p> <p>The Mornington Peninsula proudly claims to be Australia’s number one golfing destination, so be sure to bring your clubs. There are 20 courses across 15 clubs, a number of which are in the country’s top 10. The huge Moonah Links complex has two world-class courses and The Dunes offers an exclusive private club-style experience that’s open to the public. Many of the courses hug the rugged coastline, making for jaw-dropping views from every hole.</p> <p><strong>Explore</strong></p> <p>The Mornington Peninsula owns more than 10 per cent of Victoria’s total coastline, so it makes sense that there’s plenty to do on (and under) the water. Snorkel along the Octopus’ Garden trail, a signposted 200-metre dive site along the Rye Pier. Experiences divers can try one of the 60 shipwrecks that lie submerged in the water or explore the Pope’s Eye, an artificial reef built in the 1880s. Then there’s standup paddle boarding, surfing, kayaking, fishing and sailing. And did we mention you can swim with dolphins?</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img width="498" height="245" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/34429/image__498x245.jpg" alt="Image_ (121)"/></p> <p><strong>Relax</strong></p> <p>Holidays are about down time, so where better to relax than at Victoria’s first natural hot springs centre? At Peninsula Hot Springs natural thermal mineral water is pumped from deep underground into communal pools or private baths. There are more than 20 wellness experiences on offer including a traditional hammam, reflexology walk, cave pool and a hilltop pool with 360-degree views over the surrounding bushland.</p> <p><strong>Eat &amp; drink</strong></p> <p>There are more than 50 wineries scattered throughout the Mornington Peninsula, producing incredible pinot noir, chardonnay, shiraz, pinot gris and pinot grigio. Then there’s the fresh caught seafood, artisanal cheese, crusty bread and heavenly honey, all to be bought directly from the producers. If you want to get a snapshot of the best the region has to offer, the local tourism board has a number of trail maps themed around wine, cider, food, farms and more that you can download.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img width="498" height="245" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/34430/image__498x245.jpg" alt="Image_ (122)"/></p> <p><strong>Stay</strong></p> <p>If you plan to play a lot of golf, then check in to one of the stylish resorts attached to the best clubs like Peppers Moonah Links, Mercure Portsea or RACV Cape Shanck. There are some great caravan parks and campsites around the region, some of which let you pitch a tent almost on the beach. There’s even a plush glamping experience that will set up a vintage caravan or luxury tent for you to camp with class.</p> <p>What’s your favourite thing to do in the Mornington Peninsula? Share your travel advice in the comments below.<em><strong> </strong></em></p>

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