The New Zealand government announced Thursday it would submit a proposal for a marine protected area (MPA) in Antarctica's Ross Sea, but environment campaigners accused it of trying to foil a consensus at an international meeting to decide the issue.

Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully said the New Zealand proposal would be submitted Friday to the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), which is part of the Antarctic Treaty System and manages the marine living resources in the waters around Antarctica.

"If successful, this will be the largest MPA anywhere in the world - nine times the size of New Zealand," McCully said in a statement.

The proposal would protect ecologically important features and habitats, including winter ice free areas (polynyas), the entire Victoria Coast from McMurdo Sound to Cape Adare, the Balleny Islands, and almost the entire Ross Sea continental shelf, he said.

McCully said New Zealand discussed the feasibility of a joint proposal with the United States, but each country would offer a separate proposal for the CCAMLR's consideration.

"New Zealand and the United States have a close relationship in the Antarctic Treaty System. The proposals that we are putting forward share many common features, and I have made a commitment to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that we will continue to work closely with the United States to achieve optimal outcomes from the CCAMLR process," he said.

To achieve a protected area, every CCAMLR member country had to agree.

"The Ross Sea region is among the most pristine natural regions in the world and of tremendous conservation and scientific value to current and future generations," McCully said.

In designing New Zealand's MPA proposal, the government had listened to the views of domestic stakeholders, including environmental organizations, the fishing industry, scientists and other CCAMLR members.

The proposal would enable the toothfish fishery to continue in areas outside the MPA.

Details of New Zealand's proposal would be available next week after it had been formally submitted to the CCAMLR, he said.

However, Greenpeace, which is part of the Antarctic Ocean Alliance, said the government had rejected a joint proposal with the U.S. to protect the Ross Sea, according to alliance sources.

That meant the two countries would back different plans for Ross Sea protection, significantly reducing the chances of a consensus agreement at the CCAMLR meeting.

Greenpeace New Zealand campaigner Steve Abel said the New Zealand "snub" was a missed opportunity to work with the U.S. on protecting key areas of the Ross Sea, referred to as "The Last Ocean" as it was relatively unaffected by human activity.

"New Zealand's proposal is the weaker of the two and we are dragging down U.S. conservation ambitions with us," Abel said in a statement.

The New Zealand proposal put the needs of a small and economically marginal fishery ahead of protecting the most pristine ocean on the planet, he said.

"New Zealand's proposal appears to be carefully designed to leave out any areas that are associated with fishing. It misses vital habitats and does not safeguard the heart of the Ross Sea ecosystem," he said.

"Internationally it is an embarrassment. It is a betrayal of our core New Zealand values and a dark day for our reputation as a leader on environmental protection."

This year's CCAMLR meeting will be held from Oct. 23 to Nov. 1 in Hobart, Australia.

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