China Dialogue Ocean
China's Marine Reserves: Under New Management
Shedao Island is small, but it’s home to thousands of pit vipers, which wrap themselves around tree branches to ambush small migrating birds. The island, which lies about 10 kilometres south-west of China’s Liaoning peninsula is less than one square kilometre in size. China designated the island as its first marine reserve in 1963 in order to protect the vipers. The State Council expanded it in 1980 to include Laotieshan, a forested mountain area on the nearby mainland that supports egrets, cranes and Mandarin ducks, thereby covering...
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Antarctic Commission Considers Giant Marine Protected Areas
[By Fermin Koop] The future of the Antarctic hangs in the balance. Twenty-four countries and the European Union are meeting in Hobart, Australia, from October 22 to vote on a proposal to extend ocean protections around the South Pole. There have been several failed attempts as countries have strong interests in the region that they want to safeguard. It’s the annual meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), an international organisation that regulates the...
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