Antarctic Treaty System

• While the Southern Ocean around Antarctica has been warming for decades, the annual extent of winter sea ice seemed relatively stable – compared to the Arctic.
• In 2018 the international scientific community agreed to produce the first marine ecosystem assessment for the Southern Ocean.
• So the resulting “summary for policymakers” being released today is like an IPCC report for the Southern Ocean.

Why should we care about sea ice?

• Sea ice is to life in the Southern Ocean as soil is to a forest.
• Less sea ice is a danger to all wildlife – from krill to emperor penguins and whales.
• The sea ice zone provides essential food and safe-keeping to young Antarctic krill and small fish, and seeds the expansive growth of phytoplankton in spring, nourishing the entire food web.

An open and collaborative process

• We sought input from a wide range of people across the entire Southern Ocean science community.
• We sought to answer questions about the state of the whole Southern Ocean system - with an eye on the past, present and future.
• We deliberately modelled the multi-disciplinary assessment process on a working group of the IPCC to distill the science into an easy-to-read and concise narrative for politicians and the general public alike.

So what’s in the report?

• These organisms, from microscopic plants to whales, face a changing and challenging future.
• Important foundation species such as Antarctic krill are likely to decline with consequences for the whole ecosystem.
• The assessment stresses climate change is the most significant driver of species and ecosystem change in the Southern Ocean and coastal Antarctica.

What’s next?

• The commission is the international body responsible for the conservation of marine ecosystems in the Southern Ocean, with membership of 26 nations and the European Union.
• The Southern Ocean is a crucial life-support system, not just for Antarctica but for the entire planet.
• Now we’re up and running, we can continue to support evidence-based conservation of Southern Ocean ecosystems into the future.

• A cutting-edge maritime surveillance aircraft, the P-8A is also operated by Australia, India, Norway, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States.
• As well as search and rescue, the aircraft will conduct maritime surveillance and intelligence gathering, and are capable of anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare.
• Air Vice-Marshal Andrew Clark describes the plane as “the modern standard in technology” for maritime surveillance.

Defence and military priorities

• Its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) covers 4.4 million square km of ocean, a staggering 15 times larger than the land mass.
• Intelligence, border security and resources agencies monitor commercial shipping and recreational boating in the EEZs of New Zealand, Niue and Raratonga.
• P-8As will be able to conduct searches and drop life rafts and survival equipment – but they were ordered to meet future defence and security challenges.
• The 2018 Strategic Defence Policy Statement warned of military, cybersecurity, transnational crime and terrorism threats.

Best use of resources

• We are already witnessing increasing need for maritime surveillance with rising geopolitical tensions in the Asia-Pacific region, as foreign investment in submarines and warships increases.
• Australian P-8As are currently monitoring two Chinese “spy ships” loitering near naval exercises off Australia.
• Several states are stepping up activities on a warming continent that is strategically situated and potentially rich in mineral resources.
• Four is a bare minimum, given how servicing or overseas deployment could leave only two locally based functioning aircraft.

Time for a maritime patrol review

• Its Border Force agency contracts a commercial organisation, Surveillance Australia, to patrol the Australian EEZ for illegal fishing, immigration and quarantine breaches, and human, drug and arms trafficking.
• Border Force’s Future Maritime Surveillance Capability Project seeks to update Australian maritime surveillance to be cost-effective, while also meeting the challenges of an evolving and complex national security environment.
• New Zealand could also benefit from a fresh review to consider whether the modest fleet of P-8As should continue to be viewed as a multi-agency asset.
• This would ensure best-practice military employment of the P-8A in response to national, regional and international defence challenges.

• The decision came at the close of the 41st annual meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR).
• As part of the Antarctic Treaty System, CCAMLR is the governing body responsible for protecting Southern Ocean wildlife.
• These effects are expected to increase as climate change affects the region and krill fishing expands in the Antarctic Peninsula.
• But while the krill conservation measure is a good first step, new evidence underscores that the best precautionary approach to Southern Ocean conservation couples ecosystem-based fishery management and marine protected areas.

• Under the outstanding leadership of Dr John Shears, they have found Endurance.
• Mensun Bound, Director of Exploration on the expedition, said:
  "We are overwhelmed by our good fortune in having located and captured images of Endurance.
• An in-depth story about the finding of Endurance, including its historical relevance, is available on natgeo.com now.
• For further information / resources:
  Photographs and a 90 second video of Endurance, as well as other expedition images, are available for download at: https://collect.wetransfer.com/board/sowc348bfrvti58ge20220307165300