Achievements

Since its establishment in 1982, CCAMLR has set global benchmarks for long-term conservation, including the rational use of marine living resources. In recognition of its achievements, CCAMLR was awarded the FAO Margarita Lizárraga Medal (2017).

CCAMLR has introduced and expanded a range of critical Antarctic conservation practices since its establishment, including:

• an internationally recognised best-practice at-sea scientific observer program
• an international inspection system
• management decisions that consider the impacts on ecosystems and the conservation of marine resources
• rigorous scientific processes
• robust monitoring, control and surveillance and market control measures.

Specific achievements include:

• effective control and management of fishing and related activities in all parts of the Convention Area
• maintaining stocks of icefish, toothfish and krill at or above their target biomass level, safeguarding the sustainability of the ecosystem. Details of all stock status is in our  Fishery Reports
• implementing the catch documentation scheme for toothfish species, which is one of the pillars of CCAMLR’s traceability regime
• reducing, and effectively eliminating, illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing from the Convention Area. From IUU catches of tens of thousands of tonnes in the mid-1990s, IUU fishing in the Convention Area has now been effectively eliminated. More detail can be found on our IUU pages  
• establishing the largest high-seas marine protected area (MPA) in the world, the Ross Sea region MPA (2016) as well as the world’s first high-seas MPA, the South Orkney Islands southern shelf MPA (2009). More detail on MPAs can be found in the CCAMLR MPA Information Repository portal
• dramatically reducing seabird mortality through mitigation measures and changes to fishing practices. Since the late 1990s seabird mortality arising from fishing operations has been reduced from several thousands of birds annually to almost zero in fisheries regulated by CCAMLR. This has been achieved through the implementation of a combination of measures including seasonal closures, night setting, the deployment of streamer lines, additional line weights to increase sink rates, prohibition on the discharge of offal during setting and hauling and the use of bird exclusion devices around the hauling point
• monitoring the ecosystem since 1984 using standardised methods and dedicated surveys.  CCAMLR's ‘ecosystem approach’ to managing the commercial harvesting of Antarctic marine living resources goes beyond monitoring the effects of fishing on harvested species (target species) to monitoring dependent species and associated species for potential impacts. More information is available on our CEMP webpage
• identifying and protecting vulnerable marine ecosystems (including seamounts, hydrothermal vents, cold water corals and sponge fields). CCAMLR developed methods for identifying VMEs and encounter protocols for fishing vessels which have resulted in the protection of over 130 VME areas. More information is available on our VME webpage.

In 2021, the Commission agreed a Declaration of CCAMLR on the occasion of its 40th meeting that reaffirms the strong and unwavering cooperation and commitment to the objective of the CAMLR Convention, and the commitment to maintaining the achievements listed above (Declaration on the occasion of the fortieth Meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources).