Dear Marmam’ers, The government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (SGSSI) is undertaking a five year review of its marine protected area (MPA). As part of that process, the Great Blue Ocean coalition (The Pew Trusts, the Blue Marine Foundation, the Zoological Society of London, Greenpeace UK, the Marine Conservation Society and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) alongside Whale and Dolphin Conservation is advocating that the UK significantly increases full protections of this global biodiversity hotspot. As detailed in the link below, although areas such as the waters surrounding the South Sandwich Islands are currently little exploited, only 23% of the EEZ is fully protected by law. We believe that due to increasing evidence of baleen whale recovery, the profound impacts of climate change in the region, and the growing and increasingly sophisticated and concentrated krill fishery operating within CCAMLR, the UK should take the opportunity provided by the review process to rachet up protections. A counter argument is that the unfished waters are de-facto protected, and that unilateral action would undermine ongoing processes in CCAMLR. Sadly, we believe that de-facto protections can easily be reversed, and that unfortunately, multi-lateral decision-making in CCAMLR has failed to deliver meaningful conservation outcomes for the Southern Ocean since 2016, even though climate impacts and commercial pressures make the need to act more pressing than ever before. For further information please visit: https://greatblueocean.org/sgssi/ We believe that an illustration of support from cetacean scientists will prove beneficial to the work over the coming months, so please consider adding your name and affiliation to this list - [docx icon] Sign on by scientists for SGSSI campaign.docx<https://whalesorg.sharepoint.com/:w:/s/GreenWhaleTeam/EThzfV6kcE1EvOo71GHLTg4BC0J1-Z87P2NuFnRkDvW9uw?e=OKYoOG> Any questions please contact ed.goodall@whales.org<mailto:ed.goodall@whales.org> Thank for your support! WDC, Whale and Dolphin Conservation Brookfield House 38 St. Paul Street Chippenham Wiltshire SN15 1LJ United Kingdom whales.org<https://whales.org/> [cid:image002.png@01DA01B6.A2A3F260]<https://uk.whales.org/our-4-goals/end-captivity/captivity-free-forever/> [cid:image003.png@01DA01B6.A2A3F260]<https://www.facebook.com/whalesorg> [cid:image004.png@01DA01B6.A2A3F260]<https://www.twitter.com/whalesorg> [cid:image005.png@01DA01B6.A2A3F260]<https://www.instagram.com/whalesorg> [cid:image006.png@01DA01B6.A2A3F260]<https://www.youtube.com/whalesorg> [cid:image007.png@01DA01B6.A2A3F260]<https://uk.whales.org/category/news/> [cid:image008.png@01DA01B6.A2A3F260]<https://uk.whales.org/newsletter> [cid:image009.png@01DA01B6.A2A3F260]<https://www.fundraisingregulator.org.uk/> Whale and Dolphin Conservation (“WDC”) is a company registered in England and Wales (No. 02737421) and a registered charity (in England and Wales No. 1014705, in Scotland No. SC040231) WDC Shop is a trading name of WDC (Trading) Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (No. 02593116) Registered office : Brookfield House, 38 St. Paul Street, Chippenham, Wiltshire, SN15 1LJ. Tel: +44 (0)1249 449 500 This message is private and confidential. If you have received this message in error, please notify us and remove it from your system.