taipei, taiwan —
China and Russia are deepening cooperation in Antarctica in a trend that analysts say could undermine marine conservation efforts and disrupt the long-standing status quo in the resource-rich region.
China and Russia were accused of that would establish new marine protected areas and revise the krill fishery management plan in the Southern Ocean, during the annual conference of the (CCAMLR) in Australia last week.
The commission was established in 1982 and is a part of the Antarctic Treaty System, which establishes the legal status of Antarctica and comprises four different treaties.
CCAMLR focuses on preserving marine life and other resources in the Antarctic. The commission has 26 members, including China, Russia, the United States, Australia and the European Union.
Any member state can veto a proposed measure, and Russia and China have repeatedly used that power to by the council over the years.
Some member states said every proposed measure at this year’s conference, including the establishment of four new marine protected areas and an extension of existing krill management measures, was blocked by China or Russia or both.
“Most concerning was the failure of some members to support the extension of existing krill management measures while the harmonization process is progressed,” a spokesperson of the Australian Antarctic Division told VOA in a written response.
“This is a backwards step for CCAMLR and puts krill, and the ecosystems and predators it supports, at risk,” the spokesperson added. Krill are small shrimp-like crustaceans that play a crucial role in the marine food chain.
The measure that CCAMLR member states hope to preserve is the mechanism that limits krill fishing in a protected area near the Antarctic Peninsula to no more than 620,000 tons.
Another 620,000 tons of fishable krill are redistributed across several subareas to prevent overconcentration of krill fishing in one area.
The measure needs to be renewed annually during the CCAMLR meeting with the approval of all the commission’s member states. Analysts said China's and Russia’s move to block the rollover of the krill measure will affect the sustainability of a crucial food source for species such as penguins, seals and whales.
“If there’s too much krill fishing in one small region of Antarctica, it will restrict the amount of food available to the seal and penguin populations,” Tony Press, an expert on Antarctic affairs at the University of Tasmania, told VOA in a video interview.
In his view, other countries within CCAMLR should try to collectively challenge China's and Russia’s decisions to block the proposed conservation measures through diplomatic means or decide to implement the proposed measures without involving Beijing or Moscow.
“Other countries could decide that Russia and China’s behaviors mean they would have to start implementing decisions among themselves,” Press said.
Experts say China and Russia refuse to support the proposed measures because they think setting up more marine protected areas will lead to more areas in the Antarctic becoming unavailable for use or development.
“They think once a marine protected area is adopted, it creates a snowball effect and generates more support behind the development of additional marine protected areas, which both countries think could lead to all marine living resource exploitation in the Southern Ocean being completely prohibited,” said Donald Rothwell, professor of international law at Australian National University.
Lynda Goldsworthy, a research associate at the University of Tasmania's Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, said one of China’s objectives in increasing its fishery footprint in the Southern Ocean is to “increase geopolitical influence in the Antarctic region.”
But since Russia is not as invested in the Southern Ocean as before, Goldsworthy said its decision to block marine conservation efforts in Antarctica is driven by an attempt to challenge the rules-based world order.
“Russia is playing the disruptor and [the objections] are part of their global disruption approach,” she told VOA by phone.
The Russian Foreign Ministry and Russian Embassy in the U.S. have not responded to VOA’s request for comments. The Chinese Foreign Ministry and Chinese Embassy in Australia also have not responded to requests for comments from VOA.
CCAMLR successfully established two marine protected areas in the Southern Ocean in 2009 and 2017, but no new zones have been established since then. The during the 2024 meeting would increase the protected area in the Southern Ocean to 26%.