Bio 280

The most important thing is to protect the wildlife and the ecosystems of Antarctica and the ocean. Due to our actions and activities we already have harmed species and ecosystems before the laws came into play. Up to date there are many laws protecting species such as the statement "Conservation in Antarctica" (2001) “All the animals and plants are now protected”. If more people would be educated on ecosystems, the environment and the damage we cause by “Overfishing, waste, invasive species, mineral exploitation and pollution.” ("Cool Antarctica", 2001).   Which now all has laws and regulations. If the law for mineral exploitation would be lifted or any other laws, who protects the animals and the ecosystems? Instead of bans being lifted it would be a good idea to crack down and make more laws to protect the animals and ecosystems. Information on the issues that were occurring before the laws were set into play would help show that having the laws is protecting the environment and prevent more harm being done to Antarctica and the Southern Ocean.

Also, people coming in to Antarctica could potentially be harmful since not everyone follows the rules and regulations. If they could crack down on certain laws and make the penalties for not following the laws higher it could hopefully help a lot. If we could stop tourism for a while would also be great too. Another great idea to help fix these issues is to slow down the time/ or amount of people that are out there doing research at the Halley research center and minimize the human impact and interaction with species and ecosystems. If it would be made politically know the effects since the laws and bans of certain things have helped they might consider not lifting the ban of mineral exploitation.  

It would be a good idea for a meeting for everyone involved and show the before and after effects since the laws have come into play. With mineral exploitation, we are interrupting ecosystems, harming species and taking away from a place is slowing disappearing on its own due to global warming. Without overfishing laws, poaching of whales and seals and interrupting species ecosystems of Antarctica we could kill off more species and ecosystems of both land and sea. If laws are lifted it would only end bad like everywhere else in the world. A meeting should be held to discuss how things have gotten better since the laws have been set in place.