Protection sought for islands off Antarctica

The Government plans to seek United Nations protection in the Ross Sea equivalent to a marine reserve around the icy Balleny Islands, which may provide a foothold for wildlife dispersed by the effects of global warming.

A scientific expedition that returned from the islands on March 5 found there had been a surge in the population of chinstrap penguins.

Numbers were well up on the previously recorded population of about 30, said the expedition's scientific leader, Franz Smith.

"We did one shore landing and found 300 birds," he said. "One interpretation of that ... is that this could be something to do with climate change."

One island in the Balleny group, Sabrina Island, is already listed as a special protected area because its population of a few dozen chinstrap penguins was thought to be the only ones of that species for thousands of kilometres along the Antarctic coast.

The Ballenys are a 195km-long chain of volcanic ice-covered islands, 250km off the coast of Antarctica, which scientists describe as an "oasis".

They rise from a seafloor depth of nearly 2000m, directly in the path of circumpolar ocean currents, forcing an upwelling of nutrient-rich waters where the Ross Sea meets the Southern Ocean.

Because they are the only islands at this latitude for thousands of kilometres in both directions they also provide essential breeding and nesting habitat for land-dependent Antarctic seal and seabird populations.

Several whale species are known to feed in the area, some of them migrating long distances to get there.

Dr Smith said the diversity of marine life there was unique.

To obtain a high seas marine protected area around the Balleny Islands under the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, New Zealand will have to show ecological processes around the islands are critical to the healthy functioning of the larger Ross Sea ecosystem. It will also need permission under the Antarctic Treaty System.

- NZPA