The CCAMLR ecosystem approach to the management of marine harvesting

The conservation processes known collectively as the /ecosystem approach' to the management of ocean harvesting were initiated by the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Resources (CCAMLR). The expectation of large-scale harvesting in the Southern Ocean of a major prey species, Antarctic krill, prompted the inclusion in the CCAMLR Convention of mechanisms to regulate harvesting such that the needs of species within the Southern Ocean ecosystem were taken into account as well as those of harvesters. Signed in 1980, it is often claimed that CCAMLR was the first conservation-centred convention. It has set a pattern for benign harvesting practices worldwide. The CCAMLR model of fishery management is critically examined in this study in order to determine whether and in what ways it is useful in the living resource management of the Southern Ocean and possibly in other regimes in the world. The question of whether it has been successful or not is a complex one that cannot be answered simply by 'yes' or 'no'. The question is therefore divided into several sub-questions, which are addressed in eight chapters. Legal, political and biological aspects of marine harvesting in the Southern Ocean are identified. Pre-existing international law relating to the Southern Ocean is examined to ascertain attitudes to conservation of species and ecosystems. It is argued that attitudes of the Antarctic Treaty parties towards the conservation of the Antarctic regions and their biota facilitated the development of ecosystem paradigms and enabled them to conclude a convention. The three central chapters of the thesis analyse the implementation of the ecosystem standard. This was a slow and difficult process, beset as it was with lack of information, p olitical dissent between parties within the Antarctic Treaty and pressures from outside. Work was undertaken to enhance the knowledge of Southern Ocean ecosystems to lend validity to advice used in making decisions on harvesting levels. It was difficult to keep pace with concurrent changes in harvesting patterns. Nonetheless, progress made in implementation of ecosystem standards in the Southern Ocean began gradually to influence ocean harvesting regimes elsewhere in the world. It is argued that changes in international law concerning state responsibility on the high seas will be required before ecosystem approaches to living resource management can become fully effective. Several alternative schemas for ocean management combining ecosystem considerations and enforcement methods are therefore proposed. The inseparable dual aims of these will be to ensure a reliable supply of protein for human use while maintaining or restoring as far as possible the integrity of ocean ecosystems.