Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition

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Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition

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We are an international coalition of organisations working to ensure the preservation of the Antarctic and the great Southern Ocean.

Founded in 1978, ASOC is the only non-governmental organization working full time to preserve the Antarctic continent and its surrounding Southern Ocean. A coalition of over 30 NGOs interested in Antarctic environmental protection, ASOC represents the environmental community at Antarctic governance meetings and works to promote important Antarctic conservation goals. Though Antarctica and the Southern Ocean are far away, we believe that the continent and its surrounding ocean are the natural heritage of all humankind and seek to ensure that Antarctic ecosystems - both terrestrial and marine - remain protected and intact. Our two major campaigns are creation of a network of large Marine Protected Areas (carried out in cooperation with the Antarctic Ocean Alliance), and negotiation of a legally binding Polar Code that covers all vessels operating in the Southern Ocean. ASOC monitors all issues that impact the Antarctic, including climate change, tourism, fisheries management, biological prospecting and pirate fishing. Present campaigns include negotiation of a legally-binding Polar Code regulating all vessels operating in the Antarctic; establishing a representative network of marine reserves by 2012, including Marine Protected Area status for the Ross Sea; managing Southern Ocean Fisheries sustainably, including krill - the base of the Antarctic food web; regulating Antarctic tourism and biological prospecting; strengthening the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary; and monitoring implementation of the Environment Protocol to the Antarctic Treaty. ASOC employs campaigners all over the world who are experts on Antarctic environmental issues and who work closely with the countries who have a major presence in the Antarctic. ASOC also raises public awareness through this website, our blog, The Antarctica Blog, media releases and campaign advocacy. Antarctica is the world's most extreme continent - the coldest, driest, and windiest - yet is the home or feeding grounds for millions of penguins, whales, and seals. Its breathtaking scenery often renders visitors speechless. It is the "last continent," that is, the only remaining continent without a significant human presence or widespread impact on the environment. We urge you to learn more about this unique place and how you can help us ensure that the Antarctic and its magnificent species receive the highest level of environmental protection possible.

16/10/2026

ASOC is on its way to CCAMLR, where we’ll spend the next two weeks advocating for the protection of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. We’re bringing the conservation community’s voice to the table as delegates make decisions that will shape the future of this remarkable region.

So, what are we advocating for? Protecting the rapidly warming Antarctic Peninsula, improving krill fishing management, and delivering on the long-standing commitment to establish a representative system of marine protected areas across the Southern Ocean by 2030.

https://www.asoc.org/news/ccamlr-2026-opening-press-release/

📷 Adam Maire / Ocean Image Bank

15/10/2026

In 2016, countries showed what international cooperation could achieve by agreeing to protect the Ross Sea. A decade later, the opportunity to build on that progress and deliver on the wider promise to protect Antarctica is here again.

In a new op-ed for Prospect Magazine, former US Secretary of State John Kerry reflects on the diplomacy behind the Ross Sea Region Marine Protected Area and the need to carry that ambition forward. The agreement created the world’s largest marine protected area, proving that countries with competing interests could find common ground to protect the Southern Ocean.

ASOC was there in 2016, working to advance marine protection, and we will be on the ground again at CCAMLR’s 45th annual meeting in Hobart next week. Ten years on, no new marine protected areas have been established in the Southern Ocean. The commitment to build a representative system of MPAs around Antarctica remains unfulfilled.

As Kerry writes, the opportunity is there. The Ross Sea showed what countries can achieve together. Now, it’s time to build on that progress.

Read the full op-ed in Prospect Magazine: https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/politics/75312/its-time-to-keep-our-promise-to-protect-antarctica

14/10/2026

🐦 : Antarctic petrel

While many petrel species can be found in Antarctica, the Antarctic petrel is especially unique: it is one of just three bird species that breed exclusively on the Antarctic continent and its immediate coastal islands, alongside emperor penguins and South Polar skuas. 🇦🇶

With chocolate-brown and white plumage, Antarctic petrels glide over the Southern Ocean on stiff wings, gathering in flocks on icebergs, especially in the Ross and Weddell Seas. They feed on krill, other small crustaceans, squid, and fish. 🦐

Their breeding colonies can hold more than 200,000 pairs, nesting on rocky cliffs and wind-swept slopes. Both parents take turns incubating their single egg and feeding their chick. 🥚

Antarctic petrels also have a rather unusual defense. When threatened, they can spit stomach oil at predators. This foul-smelling oil can deter attackers and even mat the feathers of other birds, making it a surprisingly effective way to protect themselves and their chicks.

Although currently classified as Least Concern, Antarctic petrels depend on the Southern Ocean for food, including krill. Changes in sea ice and krill availability can affect the wider food web, from these seabirds to the whales and seals that share their habitat. Protecting the Southern Ocean helps safeguard the ecosystem they all depend on. 💙

Image via iNaturalist (CC BY-NC) 1-2 Kate E Sutherland, 3 Katrin Schmidt

12/10/2026

Why is there open water in the middle of Antarctica’s sea ice? 🌊🧊

These areas of open water are called polynyas and they’re much more than empty patches in the ice. Strong winds push sea ice away from the coast, exposing the ocean to sunlight. That kickstarts phytoplankton blooms that can be so massive they’re visible from space, creating a pulse of productivity that fuels the wider ecosystem.

Penguins, seals, whales, and countless organisms beneath the surface all depend on this seasonal productivity. 🐧

So why are polynyas worth protecting? Because these biological hotspots support some of the Southern Ocean’s most productive ecosystems. And as climate change alters sea ice, winds, and ocean conditions, understanding where polynyas form, how productive they are, and how they may change in the future is increasingly important.

One place where these processes can be seen on an incredible scale is the Ross Sea, home to the world’s largest marine protected area. Established in 2016 after 14 years of international collaboration, the Ross Sea Region Marine Protected Area encompasses much of the region’s highly productive polynya system.

But polynyas aren’t unique to the Ross Sea. They occur across Antarctica, creating important hotspots of productivity throughout the Southern Ocean. That’s why CCAMLR needs a representative, circumpolar network of marine protected areas to safeguard these and other critical Southern Ocean features. 🇦🇶

🎥 Watch this video by John Weller to hear Dr. Cassandra Brooks explain what makes Antarctic polynyas so important to the Southern Ocean.

09/10/2026

Nearly two-thirds of the chinstrap penguins at what was once the world’s largest penguin colony have disappeared. 🐧

New research from the British Antarctic Survey found that occupied chinstrap penguin nests on Zavodovski Island in the sub-Antarctic South Sandwich Islands declined by 63% between 2011 and 2025.

Scientists point to rising ocean temperatures and shifting krill distributions as key factors. As ocean waters warm, krill are shifting southward in search of colder waters, making them increasingly difficult for chinstrap penguins to access.

These findings are another reminder that climate change is not a distant threat to polar ecosystems. Warming oceans are already changing where species can find food, how they survive, and how entire ecosystems function.

🔗 Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr9dzy24g2l7o

Image credit: Matt Horspool / Ocean Image Bank

08/10/2026

We’re excited to be partnering with ABC Australia on a special Hobart pre-screening of the new docuseries “Ages of Ice” on Sunday, 25 October! 🧊 The series will air for the Australian public on ABC TV beginning on November 3.

We warmly invite CCAMLR delegations and the wider Hobart community to an exclusive evening of Antarctic science, exploration and storytelling.

Join us at the University of Tasmania for the pre-screening, followed by a discussion hosted by award-winning ABC Science Journalist Zoe Kean OAM, featuring:
Karina Holden, Series Director, Writer and Executive Producer
Dr Susanne Lockhart, Antarctic marine biologist and deep-sea explorer
Ian Kelly, UTAS postdoctoral researcher investigating the Antarctic sub-ice environment
Claire Christian, ASOC executive director
�
📍 Stanley Burbury Lecture Theatre, University of Tasmania, Sandy Bay�
📅 Sunday, 25 October 2026�
🕠 5:30–8:00pm

RSVP required by 17 October: https://events.humanitix.com/ages-of-ice-hobart-screening

07/10/2026

🪼 Meet Antarctica’s jellyfish that doesn’t swim!

Haliclystus antarcticus is a tiny stalked jellyfish found in shallow, cold waters around Antarctica.

Unlike most jellyfish, H. antarcticus spends its life attached to the seafloor rather than drifting through the open ocean. Its cone-shaped body, only a few centimeters wide, is anchored by a stalk. Eight short arms radiate from its central mouth, each tipped with clusters of tiny stinging tentacles that help it capture prey.

Its menu includes tiny crustaceans such as copepods and amphipods, as well as polychaete worms and other small marine animals. Young individuals can attach to algae, while larger animals often move to sturdier surfaces like rocks. They can even detach and “somersault” along the seafloor before reattaching somewhere new.

Image via iNaturalist (CC BY-NC) © Pat Webster underwaterpat

05/10/2026

Science should be the foundation of Antarctic protection.

The proposed Antarctic Peninsula MPA shows what that can look like: 140+ spatial data layers, decades of research, and contributions from independent scientists, CCAMLR working groups, national Antarctic programs, NGOs, monitoring programs, and the fishing industry.

This is conservation planning grounded in evidence and designed around the needs of an entire ecosystem.

The contrast matters. Krill fishing continues even though the scientific information available to understand the size and distribution of the krill population is far more limited.

That creates a troubling imbalance: a high bar for demonstrating where protection is needed, but a much lower bar for continuing extraction.

We have the science. We know where protection is needed. Now CCAMLR needs to act on it.

04/10/2026

❄️ 35 years ago, the Antarctic Treaty Parties made a lasting commitment to put environmental protection at the heart of activities in Antarctica.

The Environmental Protocol has helped shape how Antarctica is managed ever since, providing a shared framework for Parties to assess impacts, protect the continent’s unique environment, and work together on environmental stewardship.

35 years later, these principles still give us a clear foundation for how Antarctica should be treated: protect its ecosystems, protect its wildlife, protect its scientific value, and put environmental protection first. ❄️

01/10/2026

Antarctic sea ice has reached its third-smallest winter peak on record, according to new provisional data from the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). 🧊

On September 14, Antarctic sea ice reached a winter maximum of 17.59 million km², well below the long-term average and behind only the record-low peaks of 2023 and 2024. July and August 2026 also ranked among the five lowest Antarctic sea ice extents on record, with the lowest July and August extents occurring in recent years. 📉

Scientists caution that Antarctic sea ice varies considerably from year to year and more observations are needed to determine whether these persistently low levels represent a longer-term shift, but the trend is worth watching.

The poles are changing and continued observations will be critical for understanding what these changes mean for polar ecosystems, climate, and the global ocean. 🌎

Read more: https://www.carbonbrief.org/concerning-low-sea-ice-persists-as-antarctic-hits-third-lowest-winter-peak

📷 Mike Louagie / Ocean Image Bank

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