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China has become a formal member of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), the world's only multilateral organization committed to safeguarding Antarctic marine living resources, the Ministry of Agriculture said on Tuesday. The commission operates under the Antarctic Treaty.
The seas surrounding the Antarctic area abound in marine life, such as krill and ice fish, the only vertebrate that completely lacks hemoglobin, or red blood cells.
Countries including Australia, New Zealand and the United States signed the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources in 1980 for better protection and use of the marine living resources there.
The Convention became effective in 1982, and currently has 34 contracting parties.
China joined the Convention last October, and applied to become a member country on Aug. 2. | 