Protecting Penguins Through CCAMLR

The waters that surround Antarctica are among the least-altered ecosystems on Earth. Covering nearly 10 percent of the planet’s surface, the Southern Ocean supports a wide array of unique biodiversity that thrives in frigid temperatures. Tiny Antarctic krill, numbering in the trillions, flourish in huge swarms that sustain life for the region’s diversity of predators, including killer whales, Weddell seals, and extraordinary seabirds. Antarctic and Patagonian toothfish — valuable species sold as Chilean sea bass — also reside in these Southern Ocean waters, as do a variety of penguin species, the most iconic marine birds in the Antarctic.

Beneath the icy blue waters that surround Antarctica is a dazzling array of life ranging from the beautiful to the bizarre–a unique ecosystem where penguins, whales, and toothfish thrive.

The East Antarctic ice sheet flows off the Antarctic continent into the surrounding Southern Ocean, surrendering to sapphire seas that are home to an array of marine life. Penguins, seals, Antarctic krill, and Antarctic and Patagonian toothfish, also known as Chilean sea bass, are among the many species that rely on this relatively unexplored, remote, and frigid habitat for survival.

The remote Ross Sea supports a biologically diverse ecosystem that has thrived essentially unchanged for millenniums. In fact, a 2011 study published in the journal Biological Conservation called the Ross Sea “the least altered marine ecosystem on Earth.”