Russia and China must ‘get on side with conservation’, US tells Antarctic commission meeting in Hobart

The meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources will also consider how krill fishing is affecting marine wildlife. Photograph: Hemis/Alamy

The US has urged China and Russia to “get on side with conservation” and stop blocking nearly 4m sq km in new marine protected areas around Antarctica.

Speaking at a major international meeting on Antarctic conservation in Hobart, the US assistant secretary of state, Monica Medina, said the two countries had prevented the creation of three new protected areas in Antarctic waters “for too long” and it was time to “shake up the system”.