India has been elected Chairman of the Commission for Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) for a two-year term in a meeting of 23 CCAMLR Member countries held at Hobart, Australia. The Department of Ocean Development is the nodal Department of the Government of India handling Antarctic matters and its Secretary will be the Chairperson of this prestigious Commission. The meeting of the Commission took serious note of the challenges faced, particularly, from rampant illegal fishing in the Antarctic waters. Several nations demanded stringent measures to be adopted by CCAMLR to preserve the southern ocean eco-system and save some of the living resources from the threat of even extinction. In the above, context, India will have an important role to play in the next two years as Chairman of this World body.

Thanking the member countries the Head of the Indian Delegation to the Hobart meeting. Mr. V. Ravindranathan of the Department of Ocean Development called for the support and cooperation of all member countries in India’s effort to maintain and uphold the ideals and goals of the Commission in the years to come.

India has been actively involved in Antarctic Research since 1981 and has launched 17 expeditions was also launched to the Antarctic waters by India to study Krill fish biology and assess techno-economic feasibility of the potential use of Krill as a future source of protein food. In 1997, India also ratified the protocol on Environment Protection to the Antarctic Treaty, thereby upholding our commitments to protect and preserve the pristine environment of Antarctica for the benefit of humanity.

Recently, in August 1998, India for the first time hosted the meeting of the Working Group of CCAMLR Scientific Committee at Kochi. In future, India would also be hosting the 1999 Council of Managers of National Antarctic Program (COMNAP) and Standing Committee on Antarctic Logistics and Operations (SCALOP) meeting at the Antarctic Study Center at Goa.