Skip to navigation | Skip to content  Australia pushes for
Antarctic protection  Emperor penguin  The protected areas are
designed to protect the foraging areas of penguins, seals, and
whales, and nursery areas for krill and toothfish(Source:
National Science Foundation/Wikimedia commons)  News analysis
Australia and France hope to win support this week from 23 other
nations for a unique system of new marine protected areas in
eastern Antarctica.  The proposal, endorsed by the EU, comprises
seven zones covering 1.9 million square kilometres of the
Southern Ocean off eastern Antarctica.  Dr Tony Fleming, head of
Australia's delegation to the Commission for the Conservation of
Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), says it will be the
first time the Commission has considered a system of marine
protected areas for the Southern Ocean.  Unlike other marine
parks that are established by individual states and nations, the
Antarctic marine protected system would be governed by an
international body under the Ant