By Rory Crawford, Senior Policy Officer (Global Seabird Programme)
It definitely has less of a ring than Hugh's Fish Fight, but this week's show had a distinctly less fishy flavour – it focussed on krill, the tiny crustacean that props up the Antarctic food web. I don't say that to gloss over the krill itself – to my mind it's a bonnie little creature – but it is food to some of our planet's most incredible species – Macaroni and chinstrap penguins, blue whales, albatrosses and crabeater seals.
The one other predator, of course, is man. Hugh spent time on an industrial krill trawler, seeing first hand the new techniques being used to extract krill from the Southern Ocean – leading him to ponder whether our environmental stewardship will be better in the krill fishery than it has been for many other beleaguered fish stocks.
On his trip to South Georgia – a UK Overseas Territory – the immense biological significance of the area became completely clear: penguins, whales and fur seals in abundance! He also saw wandering albatross, and witnessed the problems caused when these birds interact with longline fishing vessels – something the RSPB has worked to try and eliminate, working with the world's tuna fleets.
Earlier this year, the South Georgia and Sandwich Islands Government consulted on proposals to improve the marine protection around the islands. While we welcome the initiative of the government in establishing marine protected areas, we feel the measures they’re proposing don’t go far enough. Proposals to extend the closure of the krill fishing season, which would have offered additional protection for penguins at critical times in their lifecycle, have been dropped.
RSPB also proposed extending the fisheries closed area, which would protect most of the feeding chinstrap penguins that nest on the islands during the breeding season. This proposal was, unfortunately, rejected.
As one of the few remaining pristine areas of the Southern Ocean, we believe that the whole area surrounding the South Sandwich Islands should be subject to the strictest levels of marine protection. Again, our proposal for an extension to existing protection was not taken up.
No prizes for guessing what happened to our suggestion that hydrocarbon and mineral extraction should be banned in the pristine protected areas of the far south...
It's great to see progress for marine conservation – but this definitely feels like a missed opportunity to better protect some of the world's most incredible wildlife.
You saw the show - what do you think?
Wandering albatross: N Cobley