Ocean on your mind?
In the northern hemisphere it’s summertime – and you might have a glorious ocean on your calendar or on your mind. Us, too. We recently took part in the 2022 United Nations Oceans Conference in Lisbon. Our ASOC team had a good week at this huge event (which at times felt overwhelming yet offered many opportunities). A few highlights to share with you:
We connected with European Parliamentarians to stress the need for the EU’s continued leadership on Southern Ocean marine protected areas (MPAs).
We gathered with our Antarctica 2020 Champions group, brainstorming how to adjust our strategy to current political realities.
We networked with colleagues working on MPAs in other parts of the world, sharing knowledge that can boost our advocacy for the Southern Ocean.
And we appreciated this speech by Steffi Lemke (German Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety, and Consumer Protection), identifying the Southern Ocean as a top priority.
Overall, we share sentiments delivered by Mr. Abbas Mahmoud (Distinguished Representative of Youth and Innovation Forum) at the conference’s closing session: “We must choose whether this moment will lead us to regression or evolution. Now is the time for us to take big steps to protect our big ocean!” Thank you for standing strong with us, giving a voice to the Southern Ocean at global gatherings like these. Your support makes it possible.
With you to protect Earth’s last great wilderness,
Claire Christian Executive Director Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition P.S. Please read on, below, for more Antarctica news and events.
COMING SOON! WORLD KRILL DAY 2022
Let’s celebrate the first-ever World Krill Day on August 11! We’ll join The Pew Charitable Trusts, Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), National Science Foundation, Australian Antarctic Division, Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS), Institututo Antártico Chileno (INACH), Philippe and Ashlan Cousteau, The Ocean Project, and many others for the online KRILLEBRRATION. Here's how you can take part:
Follow #WorldKrillDay on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for lots of great content.
Look for our posts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Share these #WorldKrillDay messages with your networks.
Register HERE to talk to a krill scientist! Dr. Kim Bernard from Oregon State University will be live from Antarctica on #WorldKrillDay to talk about her krill research.
Take a Krill Quiz and find more activities and information HERE.
Did you know? This small but mighty pinky-length crustacean is a critical species. It’s the centerpiece of the Southern Ocean food web! Every animal in the region either eats krill OR eats an animal that eats krill. For seabirds and mammals in the Antarctic Peninsula, krill provide 96% of their calories. Krill also serve as a carbon sink. More than half of Antarctic krill live in a relatively small region of the Southern Ocean. It’s the same region that has become the focus of the modern krill fishing industry. This area is also a climate crisis hotspot, and one of the most rapidly changing ecosystems in the Southern Hemisphere. It's time to a update the management of the krill fishery and complete a network of marine protected areas in Antarctica’s Southern Ocean. Together, we must keep speaking up for Antarctica’s magnificent species… from blue whales to the humble krill.
FROM THE GOOD NEWS DEPARTMENT
New research gives us something to cheer for: Nearly hunted to extinction, fin whales are back in large numbers in their ancestral feeding grounds off the coast of Antarctica. Massive feeding groups among fin whales near Elephant Island give us reason for hope. Previous research suggests that only 1-2% of fin whales survived commercial whaling, which ramped up in the early 20th century and continued unchecked into the 1970s, until restrictions began. Find out more here, in coverage from NBC News. This is why we continue fighting for marine protected areas… to ensure these species continue to recover!
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