MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Environmentalists call for conservation measures in South Sandwich Islands area
A coalition called Great British Oceans, came together in a bid to make the region a sanctuary. Environmentalists are calling for a curb in all fishing 
The Islands' location in the South Atlantic, at the northern edge of the Antarctic makes it a crucial point, and valuable barometer for the effects of climate change 
Simon Reddy, member from Pew said, “The Islands are already a part of a marine protected area, a conservation status that limits fishing and other human activity.” Environmental groups are coercing U.K. to protect and preserve one of the most remote area of the Antarctic. The South Sandwich Islands, on the edge of Antarctic remains rugged and uninhabited.
A coalition called Great British Oceans came together in a bid to make the region a sanctuary. The environmentalist are calling for a curb in all fishing and commercial activity in the sensitive zone. Since very few people have traveled to the edge of the region, the environmentalists say, the regions are some of Earth’s last wilderness and need urgent protection.
According to scientist, the Islands' location in the South Atlantic, at the northern edge of the Antarctic makes it a crucial point. The area could provide a valuable barometer for the effects of climate change in the region.
Simon Reddy, a member from Pew Charitable Trust said, “The Islands are already a part of a marine protected area, a conservation status that limits the amount of fishing and other human activity.”
“All we have around the South Sandwich Islands is one tiny fishery. So we might as well declare it fully protected now. It would also mean the islands could be set aside for science,” Reddy added.
The government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands is presently reviewing the effectiveness of the existing conservation measures.
Antarctic researchers at the Oxford University told the media, the activists should pause their activities until the reviewing was complete. The researchers also run the Penguin Watch project on the islands.
Organizations such as Greenpeace say, monitoring the islands for research will support an effort to comprehend the impact of climate changes in the wider Southern Ocean region stretching into Antarctica.
According to the scientists, temperature changes can impact the marine behavior and the wider Antarctic ecosystem. They are campaigning for the island’s protection from commercial activities.
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Read all comments“ ....one of the most remote area of the Antarctic. The South Sandwich Islands, on the edge of Antarctic ...”
Sep 30th, 2017 - 03:05 pm 0Rubbish. The South Sandwich islands (latitude 54 S) are well into the Southern Temperate Zone, far from Antarctica, and are much more accessible than the Antarctic.
Antarctica is to the south of latitude 66° 33´ 39”. North of that is the Southern Temperate Zone.
Should we say that Ushuaia (latitude 54.9 S) is in Antarctica?
And I thought only the Americans were bad at geography.
I think it's pretty obvious the environmentalists mentioned were referring to the treaty area, within which everything is protected anyway. It was you who choose to interpret it as meaning continental Antarctica, and got the latitude of the South Sandwich Islands wrong to boot.
Oct 02nd, 2017 - 10:02 pm 0And if NATO extended its authority to 60°S, it wouldn't change any geography, but they might want to change their name to just 'ATO'.
Corrections - South Sandwich islands run about 56 to about 59 deg S latitude and the Antarctic Circle is at about 66 33 S. So the islands range around 800-1100 km from Antarctica.
Oct 03rd, 2017 - 01:03 am 0A bit of silliness, like saying that Inverness and Aberdeen are in the Arctic, or that the Falklands are argentine.
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