CAMLR Convention

Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources

A. Overview

Antarctica is surrounded by an unbroken and dynamic body of water known as the Southern Ocean, which constitutes about 10% of the world's total ocean surface. For about 200 years, Antarctica's resources have been unsystematically harvested. In many cases the intense level of exploitation resulted in the severe depletion of harvested stocks, as was the case for fur and elephant seals in the 19th century, and whales and some finfish in the 20th century. The resulting concern for the health of the Antarctic ecosystems and their extraordinary marine and terrestrial life has kept environmental issues at the forefront ever since the Antarctic Treaty was adopted. Concerns raised in the mid-1970s that an increase in krill catches in the Southern Ocean could have a serious effect on populations of krill and other marine life, particularly on birds, seals and fish which depend on krill for food, led to the adoption of the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR)

B. Introduction

The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) was established by international convention on 7 April 1982 with the objective of conserving Antarctic marine life.

The CAMLR Convention applies to all Antarctic marine living resources (i.e. all marine living organisms) which form part of the Antarctic marine ecosystem found south of the Antarctic Convergence (the Convention Area). The marine resources whose exploitation is managed by CCAMLR specifically exclude whales and seals, which are the subject of other conventions – namely, the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling and the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Seals. However, CCAMLR takes whales and seals into consideration in relation to their role in the ecosystem.

The Convention’s objective is defined in Article II

1. The objective of this Convention is the conservation of Antarctic marine living resources.
2. For the purposes of this Convention, the term ‘conservation’ includes rational use.
3. Any harvesting and associated activities in the area to which this Convention applies shall be conducted in accordance with the provisions of this Convention and with the following principles of conservation:

            (a) prevention of decrease in the size of any harvested population to levels below those which ensure its stable recruitment. For this purpose its size should not be allowed to fall below a level close to that which ensures the greatest net annual increment;

             (b) maintenance of the ecological relationships between harvested, dependent and related populations of Antarctic marine living resources and the restoration of depleted populations to the levels defined in sub-paragraph (a) above; and

            (c) prevention of changes or minimisation of the risk of changes in the marine ecosystem which are not potentially reversible over two or three decades, taking into account the state of available knowledge of the direct and indirect impact of harvesting, the effect of the introduction of alien species, the effects of associated activities on the marine ecosystem and of the effects of environmental changes, with the aim of making possible the sustained conservation of Antarctic marine living resources.

Membership:

A CCAMLR Contracting Party is a State or a regional economic integration organisation, such as the European Union, which has committed to the Convention through ratification, acceptance, approval or accession. Members of the Commission include those Contracting Parties that participated in the first meeting at which the Convention was adopted in 1980, as well as States that have subsequently acceded to the Convention and been accepted as Members by the Commission. The Convention is open for accession by any State interested in research or harvesting activities to which the Convention applies. Acceding States do not take part in the decision-making process of the Commission nor contribute to the budget. States do not need to have a fisheries interest, and such ‘non-user States’ can accede to the CAMLR Convention and can apply for membership of the Commission.

CCAMLR has 27 Members and 10 Acceding States.

Members: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, China, Ecuador, European Union, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Namibia, Kingdom of the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Russian Federation, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States of America and Uruguay.

Acceding states: Bulgaria, Canada, Cook Islands, Finland, Greece, Mauritius, Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Republic of Panama, Peru and Vanuatu.

CCAMLR meets annually and decisions are agreed – in the form of adopted conservation measures or resolutions – based on the advice of its subsidiary bodies, in particular its Scientific Committee (SC), its Standing Committee on Implementation and Compliance (SCIC) and its Standing Committee on Administration and Finance (SCAF). All decisions are taken by consensus.

C. History

In 1959, countries came together to sign the Antarctic Treaty, which set aside Antarctica as a place of peace and science. Unfortunately, it did not include protection for the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica.

In the 1970s, parties to the Antarctic Treaty raised concerns about a dramatic increase in fishing for krill, which are a key part of the Antarctic food web. They were concerned this would cause krill populations to decline and have a knock-on effect to the species that rely on krill as a food source.

This led to the start of negotiations to ensure that Antarctic marine living resources were conserved and used sustainably. The Conference on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources began in 1978 and concluded with the signing of the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CAMLR Convention) in Canberra, Australia, on 20 May 1980, and its ratification on 7 April 1982.

D. The Convention and its legal instruments

The CAMLR Convention consists of:

• 33 Articles,
• An annex relating to an arbitration tribunal, and
• A statement by the Chair of the Conference on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, regarding the application of the CAMLR Convention to the waters adjacent to Kerguelen and Crozet Islands, over which France has jurisdiction, and to waters adjacent to other islands within the area to which the Convention applies over which the existence of State sovereignty is recognised by all Contracting Parties.

E. Organizational structure

The key institutional components of CCAMLR are:

1. The CAMLR Convention which entered into force on 7 April 1982
2. The Commission – The decision-making body, and which is advised by SCIC, SCAF and the Scientific Committee.
3. The Scientific Committee which provides the best available scientific information on harvesting levels and other management issues to the Commission. The Committee has established a number of working groups that meet during the year and assist in formulating scientific advice on key areas
4. Conservation measures and resolutions – CCAMLR implements a comprehensive set of measures in order to support the conservation of Antarctic marine living resources and the management of fisheries in the Southern Ocean
5. CCAMLR's Contracting Parties, Membership and provisions for international cooperation and collaboration
6. A Secretariat that supports the work of the Commission. The Secretariat is headquartered in Hobart, Australia. Headed by the Executive Secretary, the secretariat has a staff complement of 26 and is tasked with supporting the work of the Commission and the Scientific Committee.

F. The role of CCAMLR 

CCAMLR’s function is to give effect to the objective and principles set out in Article II of the Convention. It does this in a number of ways, including:

• formulating, adopting and revising conservation measures on the basis of the best scientific evidence available,
• facilitating research into Antarctic marine living resources and the Antarctic marine ecosystem,
• compiling, analysing and publishing data on the status and changes of Antarctic marine living resources and on the factors affecting the distribution, abundance and productivity of harvested species and dependent, or related, species or populations,
• gathering, analysing and publishing catch and effort statistics on harvested populations,
• identifying conservation needs and analysing the effectiveness of conservation measures,
• implementing the Scheme of International Scientific Observation and System of Inspection established under the Convention, and
• monitoring compliance with the conservation measures to ensure that fishing is conducted in a sustainable manner, to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in the Convention Area and maintain strong market controls to prevent trade in IUU fish.

G. Partnerships

CCAMLR has established collaboration with a number of other governmental and non-governmental organisations and private sectors. These are The Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP), the Association of Responsible Krill harvesting companies (ARK), the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC), the Antarctic Treaty Secretariat, the Commission for the Conservation of Southern Bluefin Tuna (CCSBT), the Committee for Environmental Protection (CEP), the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), the Coalition of Legal Toothfish Operators (COLTO), the Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs (COMNAP), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO), the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC), the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), INTERPOL, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the International Whaling Commission (IWC), Oceanites Inc., the Secretariat of the Regional Plan of Action to Promote Responsible Fishing Practices Including Combating IUU Fishing in South East Asia (RPOA-IUU), the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR), the South East Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (SEAFO), the Southern Indian Ocean Fisheries Agreement (SIOFA), Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS), the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (SPRFMO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC).

H. Key achievements

CCAMLR has developed a number of important initiatives since 1982:

• an internationally recognised best-practice at-sea scientific observer program
• an international inspection system
• management decisions that consider the impacts on ecosystems and the conservation of marine resources
• rigorous scientific processes
• robust monitoring, control and surveillance and market control measures.

Specific achievements include:

• 7 April 2022 – CCAMLR celebrated its 40th anniversary
• In 2017, the Margarita Lizárraga Medal Award is granted to the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR). CCAMLR was selected for its exemplary conservation and management of marine living resources in the Convention Area (the Southern Ocean covering around 10% of the Earth’s surface) in line with the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries. The Commission’s sustainable ecosystem-sensitive approach balances environmental conservation with the rational utilisation of resources and acts as a model for similar initiatives, with great potential to be replicated by other Regional Fishery Bodies
• maintaining stocks of icefish, toothfish and krill at or above their target biomass level, safeguarding the sustainability of the ecosystem
• implementing the catch documentation scheme for toothfish species, which is one of the pillars of CCAMLR’s traceability regime
• reducing, and effectively eliminating, IUU fishing from the Convention Area
• effective control and management of fishing and related activities in all parts of the Convention Area
• establishing the largest high seas Marine Protected Area (MPA) in the world, the Ross Sea region MPA
• dramatically reducing seabird mortality through mitigation measures and changes to fishing practices
• monitoring the ecosystem since 1984 using standardised methods and dedicated surveys
• identifying and protecting vulnerable marine ecosystems.

I. Interesting facts

1. The Convention Area represents around 10 percent of the Earth’s oceans and has a surface area of 35 716 100 km².
2. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), is the world's only global current, flowing eastwards around Antarctica in a closed circulation with its flow unimpeded by continents. The ACC is today the largest ocean current, and the major means of exchange of water between oceans.
3. The world's largest high seas marine protected area (MPA) to date is in Antarctica's Ross Sea, safeguarding one of the last unspoiled ocean wilderness areas on the planet.
4. An estimated 500 million tonnes of krill live in the Southern Ocean. In 2023 the catch of krill in the South Atlantic was 420 000 t, well within the 620 000 t catch limit implemented by CCAMLR and less than 1% of the biomass estimated from surveys in the South Atlantic of 60 million tonnes.
5. Antarctica is home to about 70 percent of the planet's fresh water, and 90 percent of the planet's freshwater ice.

Website: https://www.ccamlr.org

Database(s): https://www.ccamlr.org/en/publications/statistical-bulletin

Contact us

Email: ccamlr@ccamlr.org

Telephone: +61 3 6210 1111
Fax: +61 3 6224 8744
Address: 181 Macquarie Street, Hobart, 7000, Tasmania, Australia
Postal address: PO Box 213, North Hobart, 7002, Tasmania, Australia