The 27th meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) took place in Hobart, Australia, from 27 October to 7 November 2008, and gathered 200 representatives from the 25 signatory States.

During the meeting, delegates voted in favor of an Australian proposal to protect two 400 square kilometer areas of seabed by designating them vulnerable marine ecosystems in which certain damaging fishing methods, such as bottom trawling, are prohibited. Significantly, the protection agreement is structured so that other areas with similar ecological qualities can also be made off limits to fishing when identified. Another outcome of the meeting was the adoption of a notification scheme for transshipments and a classification code for Antarctic krill products. The European Commission expressed disappointment that delegates had opposed the Community’s trade measure proposals, noting that such measures can play an important role in tackling illegal fishing. CCAMLR was created in 1982 and is responsible for the conservation and management of marine living resources and their rational use in the Southern Ocean. The main commercial fisheries in the Convention area are for krill and Patagonian toothfish.
Links to further information
EU Press Release, 14 November 2008
The Daily, 8 November 2008