New Zealand, U.S. reconsider Antarctic marine sanctuary proposal

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WELLINGTON, Sept. 5- New Zealand and the United States are working on a new plan for a marine sanctuary in the Ross Sea in Antarctica after the last proposal was abandoned in July, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said Thursday.

The new plan is expected to be presented at talks among the Antarctic nations in Tasmania next month, Radio New Zealand reported.

Key said the plan was still a work in progress, but the government believed the fishing industry could be maintained while protecting Antarctica's pristine environment.

The Antarctic Ocean Alliance (AOA) of conservation groups called on the United States and New Zealand to stand by their proposal for a large-scale marine protected area (MPA) after New Zealand media reported that diplomatic insiders feared a revised plan would make radical cuts to the proposal.

The joint U.S.-New Zealand proposal had been for a Ross Sea MPA of 2.3 million square kilometers, including a "fully protected" area of 1.6 million square kilometers.

The Southern Ocean contained some of the most intact marine ecosystems left on Earth, and its nutrients were transported around the globe by deep ocean currents to sustain the majority of the world's marine life, said AOA spokesman Steve Campbell.

"The 30 organisations that make the Antarctic Ocean Alliance would be deeply concerned that the U.S. and New Zealand could be giving away too much, leaving us with a protected area that reduces protection for the Ross Sea," Campbell said in a statement.

Talks on two proposals for MPAs by the 26-member Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) were abandoned in July after the Russian delegation questioned the CCAMLR's legal authority to declare such reserves.

The CCAMLR special meeting in Bremerhaven, Germany, was considering the U.S.-New Zealand proposal and another by Australia, France and the European Union for a network of MPAs in East Antarctica.

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