Local link to last frontier

PROTEST: Philippa Ross is trying to help Greenpeace protect the Ross Sea, a family legacy.

By Rob Pooley

Recently there has been a lot of Mangawhai interest in the South Pole and Antarctica through historical events, and now the area is getting more exposure.

As the great great great granddaughter of Sir James Clark Ross, the British Polar explorer who discovered the Ross Sea in 1841, Waipu’s Philippa Ross sees her legacy of the last intact marine ecosystem in the world in danger of being spoiled by continued fishing exploitation.

The preservation of the Antarctic region is guided by the principles of the Antarctic Treaty and looked after by 25 member countries who form the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR).  

At a recent meeting in Hobart to discuss the proposal for a marine protected area in the Ross Sea and the Southern Ocean there were differing interpretations of preservation by Russia, Korea, Japan and China, who favoured economic gain over environmental sustainabilty.  

CCAMLR have called for an emergency meeting in Germany in July next year to try to break the deadlock; wanting  more science to prove the need. 

Philippa Ross says she is exasperatd by their attitude.

“How much more science do they need to be convinced? How many more natural disasters do we need to experience before decision-makers have the backbone to see the bigger picture and stop looking at what they would lose in terms of dollars and see the long term gain for the entire planet?”

These same sentiments were echoed by Steve Campbell of the Antarctic Ocean Alliance (AOA) and Steve Abel of Greenpeace.

Once central to a thriving whaling industry, in recent years the area has been overtaken by the popularity of the toothfish, a big money item with an export value of $20 million for New Zealand alone last year. But while the economic rewards are huge, they are finite.

Californian ecologist David Ainley who has been studying the Ross Sea for 30 years, describes it as a "living laboratory". “The Last Ocean” directed by Kiwi film-maker Peter Young is a heartfelt environmental documentary portraying the Ross Sea ecosystem in Antarctica as one of the last remaining pristine stretches of ocean on Earth.  

In the meantime Philippa Ross will not be stifled by living in the small northland village of Waipu, working to make a marine protected area for the entire Ross Sea. 

“It’s common sense,” says Philippa. “Nature has no boundaires, the land and sea are part of a whole eocsystem that sustains life. Why would you protect the continent without including the sea?”