The Southern Ocean is critical to the survival of more than a quarter of the worlds’ marine mammals, which depend on this vast wilderness for feeding and breeding grounds. Despite being one of the most marine mammal-rich places on earth, the majority of the Southern Ocean falls outside national jurisdictions and protected areas.

In August 2020, the IUCN SSC/WCPA Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force made massive strides in Southern Ocean conservation, by announcing the approval of thirteen newly motivated Important Marine Mammal Areas (IMMAs) within the Extended Southern Ocean Region. MIMMPs’ Nico de Bruyn and Ryan Reisinger were among the 20 scientists from 11 countries that participated in a prestigious workshop by the IMMA Secretariat, which saw to the peer-review and subsequent approval of these new IMMAs. This workshop held in Brest, France in 2018, was a collaboration between various stakeholders, including the French Biodiversity Agency (Office Français de la Biodiversité — OFB), IUCN Global Marine and Polar Programme, and the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR).

The global network of Important Marine Mammal Areas (IMMAs) welcomes the addition of the Extended Southern Ocean Region. Visit https://www.marinemammalhabitat.org/ for more information

Important Marine Mammal Areas are “discrete portions of habitat, important to marine mammal species, that have the potential to be delineated and managed for conservation”. While they are not necessarily protected areas themselves, IMMAs are an incredibly useful conservation management tool because they provide expert, data-driven information that is accessible and relevant to policy makers. This includes the identification of biodiversity hotspots, which can be used to monitor general ecosystem health and incorporated into marine spatial planning or protected area establishment or expansion.

Included in the newly approved IMMAs are (some of the MIMMPs’ favourites) ‘The Prince Edwards Islands and western oceanic waters’, ‘Gough Island and surrounding waters’, and ‘Bouvet Island and surrounding waters’.

Congratulations to Nico and Ryan for contributing to this milestone in Southern Ocean conservation, and showcasing the value of MIMMPs’ ongoing research in the Southern Oceans on a global platform available to researchers and policy makers.

Follow these links for further reading on this exciting development in Important Marine Mammal Areas or to access the IMMAs searchable database and e-Atlas.