By Kieran Mulvaney, Seeker.com, October 29, 2016
An area the combined size of France and Spain has been declared off-limits to fishing.
Twenty-four countries and the European Union have agreed to establish the world’s largest marine protected area in Antarctica’s Ross Sea, bringing to an end — at least for now — six years of determined effort, lobbying and, ultimately, compromise.
The member nations of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), meeting in Hobart, Tasmania, agreed on Friday morning to increase protection in 580,000 square miles of the sea, with 425,000 square miles being set aside as a “no-take” zone where fishing is prohibited.
