SYDNEY (Reuters) - Twenty-four countries and the European Union agreed on Friday to create the world’s largest marine park in the Antarctic Ocean, covering a massive 1.55 million square km (600,000 square miles) of ocean.

The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, meeting in Hobart, Australia, said the Ross Sea marine park would be protected from commercial fishing for 35 years.

The Ross Sea is seen as one of the world’s most ecologically important oceans.

The sanctuary will cover more than 12 percent of the Southern Ocean, which is home to more than 10,000 species including most of the world’s penguins, whales, seabirds, colossal squid and Antarctic tooth fish.

Fishing will be banned completely in 1.1 million square km (425,000 square miles) of the Ross Sea, while areas designated as research zones will allow for some fishing for krill and sawfish.

Scientists and activists described the agreement as a historic milestone in global efforts to protect marine diversity.

“The Ross Sea Region MPA will safeguard one of the last unspoiled ocean wilderness areas on the planet – home to unparalleled marine biodiversity and thriving communities of penguins, seals, whales, seabirds, and fish,” U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement, referring to the marine park authority.

Scientists said the marine park would also allow a greater understanding of the impact of climate change.

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Russia agreed to the proposal, after blocking conservation proposals on five previous occasions.

The 25-member commission, which includes Russia, China, the United States and the European Union, requires unanimous support for decisions.

“They all have diverse economic, political interests and to get them all to align - especially in the context of there are divergent economic interests - is quite a challenge,” Evan Bloom, director at the U.S. Department of State and leader of the U.S. delegation, told Reuters.</s>A landmark international agreement to create the world’s largest marine park in the Southern Ocean has been brokered in Australia, after five years of compromises and failed negotiations.

More than 1.5m sq km of the Ross Sea around Antarctica will be protected under the deal brokered between 24 countries and the European Union. It means 1.1m sq km of it – an area about the size of France and Spain combined – will be set aside as a no-take “general protection zone”, where no fishing will be allowed.

Significantly, the protections are set to expire in 35 years.

The agreement came on Friday at the conclusion of two weeks of discussions between delegates from 24 countries and the EU in Hobart, at the annual meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR).

Evan Bloom from the US state department, the head of the US delegation to the meeting, told the Guardian he was “thrilled”.

“I think it’s a really significant moment,” he said. “We’ve been working towards this for many years. It’s taken time to get consensus but now we have established the world’s largest marine protected area.”

It is the first marine park created in international waters and will set a precedent for further moves to help the world achieve the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s recommendation that 30% of the world’s oceans be protected.

The Antarctic protections had been urgently sought because of the importance of the Southern Ocean to the world’s natural resources. For example, scientists have estimated that the Southern Ocean produces about three-quarters of the nutrients that sustain life in the rest of the world’s oceans. The region is also home to most of the world’s penguins and whales.

The Ross Sea is a deep bay in the Southern Ocean that many scientists consider to be the last intact marine ecosystem on Earth – a living laboratory ideally suited for investigating life in the Antarctic and how climate change is affecting the planet.

Andrea Kavanagh, the director of Antarctic and Southern Ocean work for the Pew Charitable Trusts, which has been working for years to achieve today’s result, said: “Today, CCAMLR made history by declaring the planet’s largest marine protected area in the Ross Sea.

“This landmark decision represents the first time that nations have agreed to protect a huge area of the ocean that lies beyond the jurisdiction of any individual country and shows that CCAMLR takes its role as protector of Antarctic waters seriously.”

The protections will not decrease the total amount of fish that are allowed to be caught in the Ross Sea, but it will move the industry away from the most crucial habitats close to the continent itself.

Russia has an industry catching antarctic toothfish there and the changes will push the fleet into waters where they will catch fewer immature fish, and where they won’t compete with as many orcas, who also rely on toothfish for food.

The agreement also establishes a large 322,000 sq km “krill research zone” that will allow for reseach catching of krill, but prohibit toothfish catching. Additionally, a 110,000 sq km “special research zone” will be established on the outside of the no-take zone, allowing catching of krill and toothfish only for research purposes.

“Today’s agreement is a turning point for the protection of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean,” said Chris Johnson, WWF-Australia’s ocean science manager. “This is important not just for the incredible diversity of life that it will protect, but also for the contribution it makes to building the resilience of the world’s ocean in the face of climate change.”

But the expiry of the protections in 35 years was a significant compromise. It came after five years of failed negotiations, with opposition from China and Russia which have fishing industries in the region.

The World Conservation Union definition of a marine protected area requires it to be permanent. “WWF has concerns that the Ross Sea agreement does not meet this standard,” Johnson said.

“We are optimistic that after years of deadlock at the annual CCAMLR meeting, today’s decision will spark renewed momentum for CCAMLR members to achieve permanent protection for the Ross Sea in coming years and also deliver marine protected areas in East Antarctica and the Weddell Sea.”

The Guardian understands that a proposal for 50 years of protection had been tabled but Russia wouldn’t agree.

Bloom said while the US and other countries preferred permanent protections, the compromise “was necessary in order for this to be adopted”.

Kavanagh said: “It can’t be overstated how difficult these negotiations were.”

“It took five years of talking about this one proposal exclusively to get it across the table. And if you look at other marine reserves that are permanent, they’re in one exclusive economic zone – it’s only one country that has to make the decision.

“And I’m positive that in 35 years, the conservation values that come out of the Ross Sea, the protections will be renewed. The world will be a different place in 35 years.”

The campaign group Avaaz had, with Leonardo DiCaprio, launched a petition calling for CCAMLR to establish “the world’s largest network of marine protected areas in the Southern Ocean, starting with the Ross Sea and East Antarctica”. It received more than 2m signatures, Avaaz said.

“There’s massive momentum in the world right now to protect our oceans,” said Luis Morago, campaign director at Avaaz. “Governments have just set the landmark target of protecting 30% of our oceans, and millions of people all over the world are pushing for more protected areas to achieve that goal. The Ross Sea is just the start.”</s>A United Nations body sealed the deal after five years of negotiations, at a meeting in Hobart, Tasmania.

"It's near pristine and how many near pristine parts of the ocean do we have left on the planet?" WWF Australia Ocean Science Manager Chris Johnson told CNN.

Twenty-four nations and the European Union agreed unanimously to declare the Ross Sea in Antarctica an official Marine Protected Area after negotiations brokered by the UN's Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources

According to the UN, 50% of ecotype-C killer whales (the smallest of the four types of Southern Hemisphere orcas), 40% of Adelie penguins and 25% of emperor penguins live in the area covered by the new park.

"The data collected from this 'living laboratory' helps us understand the significant changes taking place on Earth right now," United States scientist David Ainley, one of the first to call for the area to be protected, said in a statement. Not everyone is completely happy with the deal however -- Johnson told CNN the Ross Sea deal would expire in 35 years. "While we're very excited about this we don't want it to become a precedent for other marine protected areas in the Southern Ocean," he said. For a new marine park to be declared, Johnson said every country involved must agree -- complete consensus is required. "This has been a long, ongoing, challenging debate and I believe this one of the compromises in terms of getting that 100% consensus," he said. Johnson said the WWF would be working hard to make the Ross Sea Marine Protected Area permanent. "It's critical to set aside these really epic spots for diversity, not just as marine parks but as places that can build resistance to the changing climate," he said. Why is this man swimming off Antarctica? Why is this man swimming off Antarctica? Russia had voted against the new protected area on five previous occasions before finally agreeing on Friday. In a statement, a United Nations spokesman gave credit to UN Environment's Patron of the Ocean Lewis Pugh, who has worked over the past two years to gain Russia's agreement. He even swum in the icy waters of the Ross Sea in 2015 to raise attention for the issue, in what was described as "speedo diplomacy." "I am overjoyed," Pugh said in a statement. "The Ross Sea is one of the most magnificent places on Earth. It is one of our last great wilderness areas. This is a dream come true." According to the United Nations spokesman, Pugh made multiple trips to Russia to convince officials of the Ross Sea's value.</s>Boats sit on the beach at Bahia Almirantazgo, in Antarctica, on Jan. 27, 2015. The countries that decide the fate of Antarctica agreed on Friday, Oct. 28, 2016, to create the world's largest marine protected area in the ocean next to the frozen continent.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — The countries that decide the fate of Antarctica's waters reached an historic agreement on Friday to create the world's largest marine protected area in the ocean next to the frozen continent.

The agreement comes after years of diplomatic wrangling and high-level talks between the U.S. and Russia, which has rejected the idea in the past.

Proponents of the reserve say it sets a precedent for multiple countries working together to protect a large swath of ocean, which falls outside any single nation's jurisdiction.

The agreement covers an area about twice the size of Texas in the Ross Sea.

The deal was clinched after 24 countries and the European Union met in Hobart, Australia, this week. Decisions on Antarctic fishing require a consensus among the 25 members, a hurdle which has confounded past efforts.

The U.S. and New Zealand have been pushing for a marine reserve for years. They first submitted a joint proposal in 2012, but it was rejected five times before Friday's agreement. Ukraine, China and Russia had expressed concerns in the past, with Russia becoming the final holdout before the deal was made.

The marine protected area covers 1.6 million square kilometers (617,000 square miles). There will be a blanket ban on commercial fishing across about three-quarters of that area. In the remaining ocean zones, some commercial fishing will be allowed.

A small amount of fishing for research purposes will be allowed throughout the protected area.

Several countries fish in the waters surrounding Antarctica for lucrative toothfish, which are often marketed in North America as Chilean sea bass.

Evan Bloom, who led the U.S. delegation in Hobart, said that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has been a passionate advocate for the reserve and has been pushing for it in high-level talks with Russian leaders, including President Vladimir Putin.

Bloom said he was "thrilled" with the result.

"We've been working on this for so many years and had so many disappointments trying to get here," he said. "This is a real win for marine conservation."

In a statement, Kerry said the agreement "will safeguard one of the last unspoiled ocean wilderness areas on the planet — home to unparalleled marine biodiversity and thriving communities of penguins, seals, whales, seabirds, and fish."

New Zealand's Foreign Minister Murray McCully said the final agreement included some concessions to Russia, including adjusting the reserve's boundaries and allowing a little more commercial fishing outside the no-take zone.

Nevertheless, he said, he was pleasantly surprised that Russia and the U.S. had managed to reach any kind of agreement, given the current tensions over Syria.

"It goes to demonstrate that you can never jump to conclusions," he said. "Every now and then you get lucky."

Andrea Kavanagh, who directs Antarctic and Southern Ocean work for The Pew Charitable Trusts, said the environment had become a passion project for Putin's former chief of staff, Sergei Ivanov.

"We couldn't be happier about this result," she said. "This is history. This has never been done before."

She said she hoped the agreement represented the first step in what would become a worldwide network of marine reserves that would help protect the Earth's oceans.

The nations are already considering proposals for marine protected areas in East Antarctic waters and the Weddell Sea.

"We are confident that these areas will be protected in the coming years," said Mike Walker, the Project Director of the Antarctic Ocean Alliance.

The agreement will take effect from December 2017 and, for most of the reserve, will last an initial 35 years.</s>The world’s largest marine reserve aimed at protecting the pristine wilderness of Antarctica will be created after a “momentous” agreement was finally reached Friday, with Russia dropping its long-held opposition.

The deal, sealed by the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) at an annual meeting in Hobart after years of negotiations, will see a massive US and New Zealand-backed marine protected area established in the Ross Sea.

It will cover more than 1.55 million square kilometres (600,000 square miles) — roughly the size of Britain, Germany and France combined — of which 1.12 million square kilometres will be a no fishing zone.

“The proposal required some changes in order to gain the unanimous support of all 25 CCAMLR members and the final agreement balances marine protection, sustainable fishing and science interests,” New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully said.

“The boundaries of the MPA, however, remain unchanged.”

The Ross Sea is one of the last intact marine ecosystems in the world, home to penguins, seals, Antarctic toothfish, whales and huge numbers of krill, a staple food for many species.

It is considered critical for scientists to study how marine ecosystems function and to understand the impacts of climate change on the ocean.

Moscow was the last government opposing the move, largely due to concerns over fishing rights, after China offered its support last year.

“We had a lot of talks with them. Secretary (John) Kerry reached out to Russian President (Vladimir) Putin and (Foreign Minister Sergei) Lavrov and I think that helped a great deal to convince Russia to come on board,” Evan Bloom, head of the US delegation at the meeting, told AFP.

“This decision is very important not just for the Antarctic but for efforts to promote world marine conservation.”

Moscow has signalled more commitment to conservation in recent times, designating 2017 as the Year of Ecology. It moved in August to significantly increase the size of a protected zone around Franz Josef Land in the Arctic.

While the Ross Sea plan got the go-ahead, time ran out at the meeting to reach agreement on a second proposed protected area — the Australia and France-led East Antarctica sanctuary covering another one million square kilometre zone.

Both reserve proposals have been on the table since 2012 with CCAMLR — a treaty tasked with overseeing conservation and sustainable exploitation of the Antarctic Ocean, also known as the Southern Ocean.

Consensus is needed from all 24 member countries and the European Union.

A third German-proposed plan is also in the works to protect the Weddell Sea, which extends from the southeast of South America over an area of some 2.8 million square kilometres.

“For the first time, countries have put aside their differences to protect a large area of the Southern Ocean and international waters,” said Mike Walker, project director of the Antarctic Ocean Alliance, calling the outcome “momentous”.

“Although there was not a decision on the proposed protection of the Weddell Sea and the East Antarctic this year, we are confident that these areas will be protected in the coming years, adding to the system of marine protected areas in the Southern Ocean.”

The Ross Sea is named after British explorer Sir James Ross and his great, great, great granddaughter Phillipa Ross said the family was thrilled it was safeguarded.

“The Ross family are euphoric that our family legacy has been honoured in the 175th anniversary year since James first discovered the Ross Sea, thanks to the individuals and organisations who have poured their hearts and souls into campaigning for its protection,” she said.

It culminates years of pressure by conservationists, including a campaign by the global civic movement Avaaz which was kickstarted by Hollywood superstar Leonardo DiCaprio.

“There’s massive momentum in the world right now to protect our oceans,” said Avaaz campaign director Luis Morago. “The Ross Sea is just the start.” – AFP</s>Representatives from 24 nations agreed to create a zone that will encompass 600,000 square miles of ocean in the Ross Sea in Antarctica

SYDNEY — The world’s biggest marine reserve, almost as large as Alaska, will be established in the Ross Sea in Antarctica under an agreement reached by representatives of 24 nations and the European Union in Australia on Friday.

The policymakers and scientists agreed unanimously to create a zone that will encompass 600,000 square miles of ocean. Of that, 72 percent will be out of bounds to commercial fishing. The remaining 28 percent represents two research zones where scientists can catch limited amounts of fish and krill — tiny invertebrates that provide food for whales, penguins, seals and other animals — for research.

The area, which is mostly contiguous and hugs the coast off the Ross Sea ice shelf, will come under protection on Dec. 1, 2017, and remain a reserve for 35 years. The agreement was reached in Hobart, Tasmania, at the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources.

“This is a major step in marine conservation, not just for the Antarctic but internationally,” said Evan Bloom, head of the United States delegation to the commission.

“Part of it is the size, but the significance of this is that most of the marine protected area is a no-take area, and that involved 25 countries and complex, long-term environmental negotiations. It is one of the biggest steps for the international community,” Bloom, a director of the State Department’s Office of Oceans and Polar Affairs, said in a telephone interview from Hobart.

The Ross Sea marine park, in the Southern Ocean, had been on the commission’s agenda for about six years, and conservationists had been arguing for a no-fishing zone there for a decade, said Andrea Kavanagh, a director of the Southern Oceans Sanctuaries Campaign at Pew Charitable Trusts in Washington.

Although the commission did not reduce the total tonnage of fish that can be taken from the Ross Sea, vessels have been pushed into areas further out to sea and away from ecologically significant sites that include breeding and feeding grounds for whales, large fish, penguins and other sea birds.

“This is a great result for quiet diplomacy and honest toil,” New Zealand’s foreign minister, Murray McCully, said in a telephone interview from Auckland. “The fact that an agreement like this can be reached with the Russians, when there are so many difficulties, so many other political differences happening elsewhere. It is pleasing this can be isolated and agreed.”

The Ross Sea reserve includes the Ross Sea shelf and slope, and the Balleny Islands. Sea around two seamounts, one known as the Scott seamount, have also been included in the reserve. Seamounts, or underwater mountains, are habitats and foraging areas for marine mammals, birds and fish including Weddell seals, killer whales and Emperor penguins.</s>WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The countries that decide the fate of Antarctica reached an historic agreement on Friday to create the world’s largest marine protected area in the ocean next to the frozen continent.

The agreement comes after years of diplomatic wrangling and high-level talks between the U.S. and Russia, which has rejected the idea in the past.

Proponents of the reserve say it sets a precedent for multiple countries working together to protect a large swath of ocean, which falls outside any single nation’s jurisdiction.

The agreement covers an area about twice the size of Texas in the Ross Sea.

The deal was clinched after 24 countries and the European Union met in Hobart, Australia, this week. Decisions on Antarctica require a consensus among the 25 members, a hurdle which has confounded past efforts.

The U.S. and New Zealand have been pushing for a marine reserve for years. They first submitted a joint proposal in 2012, but it was rejected five times before Friday’s agreement. Ukraine, China and Russia had expressed concerns in the past, with Russia becoming the final holdout before the deal was made.

The marine protected area covers 1.6 million square kilometers (617,000 square miles). There will be a blanket ban on commercial fishing across about three-quarters of that area. In the remaining ocean zones, some commercial fishing will be allowed.

A small amount of fishing for research purposes will be allowed throughout the protected area.

Several countries fish in the waters surrounding Antarctica for lucrative toothfish, which are often marketed in North America as Chilean sea bass.

Evan Bloom, who led the U.S. delegation in Hobart, said that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has been a passionate advocate for the reserve and has been pushing for it in high-level talks with Russian leaders, including President Vladimir Putin.

Bloom said he was “thrilled” with the result.

“We’ve been working on this for so many years and had so many disappointments trying to get here,” he said. “This is a real win for marine conservation.”

In a statement, Kerry said the agreement “will safeguard one of the last unspoiled ocean wilderness areas on the planet — home to unparalleled marine biodiversity and thriving communities of penguins, seals, whales, seabirds, and fish.”

New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Murray McCully said the final agreement included some concessions to Russia, including adjusting the reserve’s boundaries and allowing a little more commercial fishing outside the no-take zone.

Nevertheless, he said, he was pleasantly surprised that Russia and the U.S. had managed to reach any kind of agreement, given the current tensions over Syria.

“It goes to demonstrate that you can never jump to conclusions,” he said. “Every now and then you get lucky.”

Andrew Cavanagh, who directs Antarctic and Southern Ocean work for The Pew Charitable Trusts, said the reserve had become a passion project for Putin’s former chief of staff, Sergei Ivanov.

“We couldn’t be happier about this result,” she said. “This is history. This has never been done before.”

She said she hoped the agreement represented the first step in what would become a worldwide network of marine reserves that would help protect the Earth’s oceans.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>A landmark international agreement will create the world’s largest marine park in Antarctica’s Southern Ocean, an environment home to most of the world’s penguins and whales. More than 1.5m sq km of the Ross Sea around Antarctica will be protected under the deal which was brokered in Australia between 24 countries and the European Union</s>The countries that decide the fate of Antarctica reached an historic agreement on Friday to create the world's largest marine protected area in the ocean next to the frozen continent.

The agreement comes after years of diplomatic wrangling and high-level talks between the U.S. and Russia, which has rejected the idea in the past.

Proponents of the reserve say it sets a precedent for multiple countries working together to protect a large swath of ocean, which falls outside any single nation's jurisdiction.

The agreement covers an area about twice the size of Texas in the Ross Sea.

The deal was clinched after 24 countries and the European Union met in Hobart, Australia, this week. Decisions on Antarctica require a consensus among the 25 members, which has confounded past efforts.

The U.S. and New Zealand have been pushing for a marine reserve for years. They first submitted a joint proposal in 2012, but it was rejected five times before Friday's agreement.

The marine protected area covers 1.6 million square kilometers (0.62 million square miles). There will be a blanket ban on commercial fishing across about three-quarters of that area. In the remaining ocean, some monitored commercial fishing would be allowed.

A small amount of fishing for research purposes would be allowed throughout the protected zone.

Several countries fish in the waters surrounding Antarctica for lucrative toothfish, which are often marketed in North America as Chilean sea bass.

Evan Bloom, who led the U.S. delegation in Hobart, said that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has been a passionate advocate for the reserve and has been pushing for it in high-level talks with Russian leaders, including President Vladimir Putin.

Bloom said he was "thrilled" with the result.

"We've been working on this for so many years and had so many disappointments trying to get here," he said. "This is a real win for marine conservation."

In a statement, Kerry said the agreement "will safeguard one of the last unspoiled ocean wilderness areas on the planet - home to unparalleled marine biodiversity and thriving communities of penguins, seals, whales, seabirds, and fish."</s>In a groundbreaking agreement between 24 different countries and the European Union, the world’s largest marine reserve will be established in Antarctica’s Ross Sea.

The meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources that took place in Hobart, Australia on Friday finally agreed to designate 600,000 square miles as a zone protected from harmful human activity – that’s twice the area of Texas.

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Since the location is a popular commercial fishing spot for China and Russia, the agreement is a long-awaited victory in environmental preservation and political harmony.

“This has been an incredibly complex negotiation which has required a number of Member countries bringing their hopes and concerns to the table at six annual CCAMLR meetings as well as at intersessional workshops,” says CCAMLR Executive Secretary, Andrew Wright.

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“This decision represents an almost unprecedented level of international cooperation regarding a large marine ecosystem comprising important benthic and pelagic habitats. It has been well worth the wait because there is now agreement among all Members that this is the right thing to do and they will all work towards the [marine protected area’s] successful implementation,” he said.

Though the sanctuary’s protection won’t go into full effect until December 2017, the polar ‘Garden of Eden’ is home to the richest collection of wildlife whose survival will benefit greatly from the agreement.

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At an annual meeting of the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources in Hobart, Australia, twenty-four countries and the European Union agree to create the world's largest marine park in Antarctica's Ross Sea. The marine park will cover more than 12 percent of the Southern Ocean, and will be protected from commercial fishing for 35 years.