Antarctica onderzoek en CCAMLR (WOT-04-009-047.04, WOT-04-009-036, WOT-04-009-003, WOT-04-003-002)

The Netherlands is a voting member of the Antarctic Treaty since 1990. According to this treaty, voting members are obliged to conduct “considerable and permanent research” in Antarctica. The Dutch government divided this task between several ministries, including the ministry of agriculture, nature and food quality (LNV). Apart from keeping voting right, the research aims to contribute to nature protection and management. The gained knowledge will be brought in at, e.g., working groups and committees of the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR). On the basis of scientific research, the Netherlands became a formal member of CCAMLR in 2019. The research of Wageningen Marine Research focusses on the Southern Ocean food webs of its ice-covered waters. This focus results in an internationally acknowledged importance of Dutch scientific research for fisheries management by CCAMLR. Researchers are actively participating in CCAMLR working group and Scientific Committee meetings. Project information is publicly available through the dossier of Wageningen Marine research www.wur.eu/antarctica.