CCAMLR Current Challenges: Implementation of Marine Spatial Planning for Marine Biodiversity Conservation

This chapter considers the impacts of geopolitics on the application of marine spatial management (MSP) tools to the area administered under the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CAMLR Convention). It explores critical points in developing and implementing MSP for fisheries management and its conservation commitments to biodiversity protection, and for the delivery of marine-based protected and managed areas proposed by the Antarctic Treaty within the Convention area. The chapter illustrates that the Convention’s Commission (CCAMLR) has adopted spatial management tools directly applicable to fisheries regulation, but has been less successful in delivering its broader conservation goals, including its commitment to implement a Convention-wide system of marine protected areas for biodiversity and science purposes, despite its mandate and devoting many years to developing a sound scientific and policy basis for such a system.