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posted by martyb on Monday October 31 2016, @10:07AM   Printer-friendly
from the if-Disney-owned-the-marine-park,-they-would-have-called-it-Frozen dept.

The world's biggest marine park is to be be created in the Antarctic Ocean, covering a massive 1.55 million square kilometers, after a "momentous" agreement was finally reached by 24 countries and the EU.

The deal, sealed on Friday in Hobart, Australia, after years of negotiations and with Russia dropping its long-help opposition, will see a massive US and New Zealand-backed marine protected area established in the Ross Sea.

The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources said the Ross Sea marine park would be protected from commercial fishing for 35 years.

The marine park will cover an area roughly the size of Britain, Germany and France combined - of which 1.12 million square kilometres will be a no-fishing zone.

The sanctuary will cover more than 12 percent of the Southern Ocean, which is home to more than 10,000 species including most of the world's penguins, whales, seabirds, colossal squid and Antarctic tooth fish.

Don't kill the krill.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 31 2016, @04:05PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 31 2016, @04:05PM (#420910)

    Its funny in a not-funny way how so many people assume that "progress" is a worthy goal unto itself. Who cares what other humans think, industrial progress is the only thing that matters!

  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Monday October 31 2016, @06:56PM

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday October 31 2016, @06:56PM (#420980) Journal

    Its funny in a not-funny way how so many people assume that "progress" is a worthy goal unto itself.

    It's worth noting that the people unconditionally opposed to progress have no answer for human overpopulation other than to assert that die-offs or even human extinction are inevitable consequences. That sort of fatalistic viewpoint conveniently ignores the benefits that certain types of progress (YMMV depending on can bring.

    Industrial progress and global trade creates another way out. Wealthy, educated people happen to be less fertile people to the point that once you exclude first and second generation immigrants, every developed world country has negative population growth. And that's about a billion people out of seven billion who have achieved negative population growth rate. IMHO, at the current rate of progress, by the year 2100, more than 75% of the world will have achieved developed world status. That includes significant parts of Africa (probably even most of Africa!).

    Antarctica's resources aren't going to be a panacea and there does need to be some sort of control, particularly for fishing and sea-based oil drilling, but it's foolish to completely ban resource exploitation as has been done here. Not every activity has global scale environmental impact. Most mining does not, for example. The resources of Antarctica could be helping us out of the hole we've fallen into even faster than we currently are.

    • (Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Monday October 31 2016, @07:23PM

      by LoRdTAW (3755) on Monday October 31 2016, @07:23PM (#421004) Journal

      IMHO, at the current rate of progress, by the year 2100, more than 75% of the world will have achieved developed world status. That includes significant parts of Africa (probably even most of Africa!).

      Dude, who do you buy weed from? I need some of that.

      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Monday October 31 2016, @07:29PM

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday October 31 2016, @07:29PM (#421012) Journal

        Dude, who do you buy weed from? I need some of that.

        There some reason you think I could be wrong? My view is that China will achieved developed world status before 2050 and India probably by 2060. That plus the current developed world is already half of the world's population. The world is improving at a massive rate.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 31 2016, @07:26PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 31 2016, @07:26PM (#421007)

      > It's worth noting that the people unconditionally opposed to progress have no answer for human overpopulation

      No, it's worth nothing that the people unconditionally opposed to progress have no answer for human overpopulation

      Because those people are so rare that talking about them is, for all practical purposes, a strawman.

      Come back to us when you are ready to talk about reality and not the delusions in your head.

      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Monday October 31 2016, @11:49PM

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday October 31 2016, @11:49PM (#421087) Journal

        No, it's worth nothing that the people unconditionally opposed to progress have no answer for human overpopulation

        The AC I replied to was of that school.

      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday November 01 2016, @12:48AM

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday November 01 2016, @12:48AM (#421096) Journal
        To elaborate on my previous post, look at the quote again.

        Its funny in a not-funny way how so many people assume that "progress" is a worthy goal unto itself.

        That's not someone who merely thinks that progress has some drawbacks.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 01 2016, @05:07PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 01 2016, @05:07PM (#421314)

          What you are reading into that quote is what is in your head, not what was written.

          In order to take that quote as meaning unconditional opposition you have to literally believe that anything less than progress for the sake of progress is unconditional opposition to all progress.

          By now we all know you are a dumbass who can only see the world in black and white, but jesus henry christ, try to overcome your limitations already.