WELLINGTON, New Zealand — November 1, 2013 — The nations that make decisions about Antarctic fishing failed Friday for a third time to agree on a plan that would create the world’s largest marine sanctuary.
The U.S. and New Zealand had proposed creating a reserve in the pristine Ross Sea. At 1.34 million square kilometers (517,000 square miles), the sanctuary would have been twice the size of Texas.
The proposal, a decade in the making, had been scaled back from earlier plans. Many countries hoped that would be enough to entice previous objectors Russia and Ukraine to agree. Those countries are among several that have fishing interests in the region.
But the 24 nations and the European Union failed to reach a required consensus as time ran out Friday on a 10-day gathering of national delegations in Hobart, Australia.
The countries also failed to agree on a second proposal to create smaller reserves in East Antarctica.
Read the full story by the Associated Press at The Boston Globe