Experts said it would also have played a key role in tackling climate change, as the seas around the Antarctic soak up huge amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But, following days of talks in Hobart in Tasmania, the CCAMLR rejected the plan, which needed unanimous agreement to pass.
Environmental groups, who had mobilised 2 million people in support of the plan, reacted with dismay.
"This was a historic opportunity to create the largest protected area on earth in the Antarctic: safeguarding wildlife, tackling climate change and improving the health of our global oceans," said Frida Bengtsson of Greenpeace's Protect the Antarctic campaign.
She said that rather than put forward "reasoned opposition on scientific grounds, some delegations, like China and Russia, instead deployed delaying tactics such as, wrecking amendments and filibustering, which meant there was barely any time left for real discussion about protecting Antarctic waters".
He said, the British government would continue to press for the creation of ocean sanctuaries in the Antarctic in the years ahead.
The failure to create new protected zones in the Antarctic Ocean comes amid increasing evidence of humans' devastating impact. This week leading scientists warned that people have wiped out 60% of wild animal populations since 1970, with potentially devastating consequences for the future of humanity.
Last month, the UN warned there were only 12 years left to prevent climate catastrophe.
The UK government has backed a proposal to ensure 30% of the world's oceans are protected by 2030 – a move heralded as a breakthrough moment by environmentalists.
The environment secretary, Michael Gove, had told the Guardian he was "fully behind" the creation of the Antarctic sanctuary, which he said would be a key moment in the effort to protecting the world's oceans.
She said that although the scientific evidence was clear, "diplomatic efforts seem to be more concerned with expanding fisheries than with conservation".