Dr. Cassandra Brooks is an Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. She works at the intersection of marine science, environmental policy and public outreach to achieve conservation solutions. Cassandra has a fierce passion for Antarctica, with the last fifteen years of her career focused on protecting the region.

Antarctica is exceptional. The coldest, windiest, iciest, driest, and most remote of continents is widely celebrated for its rich history of exploration, science and diplomacy and for its exceptional beauty. However, fishing pressure – mostly for krill and toothfish – combined with cumulative impacts of climate change, jeopardizes the future of Antarctic life in the Southern Ocean. In 2016, States made history by designating the world’s largest marine protected area (MPA) in the Ross Sea, Antarctica. Now actively in force and managed for over five years, the Ross Sea serves as an example of what is possible for MPAs in the high seas. Three additional large-scale Antarctic protected areas remain under discussion, with negotiations resuming in 2023, as States move towards a network of Southern Ocean MPAs.