南極劃設全球最大海洋保護區 區內禁止捕魚35年

Delegates from 24 countries and regions and the European Union have agreed that the Ross Sea in Antarctica will become the world's largest marine protected area (MPA).

日前，來自24個國家和地區以及歐盟的代表一致同意在南極羅斯海劃設全球最大的海洋保護區。

Some 1.57m sq km of the ocean will gain protection from commercial fishing for 35 years.

這一覆蓋面積約157萬平方公里的海域將得到保護，在35年內禁止商業捕魚作業。

The new marine protected area in the Ross Sea was created by a unanimous decision of the international body that oversees the waters around Antarctica - the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources - and was announced at the commission's annual meeting in Tasmania last Friday.

在羅斯海設立新海洋保護區的決定由監管南極附近海域的國際組織"南極海洋生物資源養護委員會"一致通過，並於上週五在該機構在塔斯馬尼亞的年會上宣佈。

"I'm absolutely overjoyed," said Lewis Pugh, the UN Patron for the Oceans. "This is the biggest protected area on the land or the sea, this is the first large scale MPA on the high seas."

聯合國海洋環保人士劉易斯·皮尤對此表示：“我真的很高興。這是陸地或海洋上最大的保護區。這也是公海上第一個大規模的海洋保護區 ”

A remote and largely pristine stretch of ocean off Antarctica, the Ross Sea is called the "Last Ocean".

羅斯海位於南極洲附近，是一片遙遠且基本保持原始狀態的海域，有"最後的海洋"之稱。

Its nutrient-rich water is the most productive in the Antarctic, leading to huge plankton and krill blooms that support vast numbers of fish, seals, penguins, and whales.

羅斯海海水營養豐富，是南極海域最多產的部分，大量浮游生物和磷蝦在此繁殖，因此也成了許多魚類、海豹、企鵝和鯨魚的家園。