Correct application of the IUCN protected area management categories to the CCAMLR Convention Area

- CCAMLR has been working to implement a system of marine protected areas (MPAs).
- CCAMLR's Scientific Committee has recommended that the Convention area is considered equivalent to an IUCN category IV MPA.
- The recommendation is critically assessed against the IUCN definition of an MPA.
- CCAMLR's current management regime does not meet the IUCN definition of an MPA.
- CCAMLR's Convention area cannot be considered equivalent to an IUCN category IV MPA.

The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) has been working to develop and implement a system of marine protected areas (MPAs) for over 10 years. Within CCAMLR there is a long-held belief that the area covered by the CCAMLR Convention is equivalent to a category IV protected area as defined by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). This belief was founded upon a comparison of the central objective of CCAMLR as defined by the CCAMLR Convention with the IUCN definition of a category IV MPA. This advice was accepted by the CCAMLR Scientific Committee but to date there has not been any analysis of this advice within CCAMLR, IUCN or in the literature. This paper critically analyses that advice, and finds that the CCAMLR Convention area does not meet the IUCN definition of an MPA and thus the CCAMLR Convention Area cannot be considered equivalent to a category IV MPA.