THE Australian icebreaker Aurora Australis is stuck in ice 80 nautical miles from the Antarctic coast.

The vessel is heading to the frozen continent with 50 scientists from around the world to study the relationship between sea ice and marine life.

The bright orange ship has been unable to move from its position - 200 nautical miles from Casey Station and 1600NM from Hobart - for the past two days.

"At the moment they're in some quite heavy ice which is pretty normal in those kinds of conditions," the Australian Antarctic Division's Operations manager Robb Clifton told AAP.

"They're unable to move to the next station at the moment because of the way that ice has packed in around the ship."

Northerly weather conditions are responsible for the dense ice and the crew are waiting on a southerly weather pattern or swell to break it up.

The scientists are making the most of the delay and have taken the sea ice and used helicopters to work on part of their project.

Mr Clifton said the research team and crew were in no danger.

"The ship has got lots of fuel, makes its own water, lots of food and it's regularly away for a couple of months at a time," he said.

"With a vessel that goes into these types of waters, you're used to delays."

Meanwhile, more than 200 delegates from 30 countries are attempting to hammer out a deal on marine protection areas in Antarctica after a lead-up of seven years.

A meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) in Hobart is considering four proposals to protect up to 2.4 million square kilometres of reserves, creating the world's largest marine protection area.

A deadline of 2012 was set in 2005 and a consensus will need to be found by November 1.

Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio has thrown his support behind the move through web campaigners Avaaz, which says it has collected half a million signatures.

Originally published as Aussie icebreaker stuck near Antarctica