A British government plan to merge its Antarctic research division with a centre studying the oceans has triggered protests from scientists who said it would cut studies of polar climate change and rising sea levels.They said the British Antarctic Survey had a strong history of discovery including, in 1985, of a hole in the ozone layer that protects the planet from harmful solar rays. That helpedspur a 1987 United Nations treaty on damaging chemicals.We should be increasing our research in Antarctica, not cutting back, said Bob Ward, policy director of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and Environment at the London School of Economics.In times of recession, it does not pay to be less knowledgeable, he told Reuters. Antarctica, which holds enough water to raise world sea levels 60 metres if it all melted,should be a higher priority for research, he said.The government, facing deep spending cuts, announced a proposal in June to merge BAS with the National Oceanography Centre into a new group, the Centre for Ocean and Polar Science. A final decision is due in December.Professor Duncan Wingham, head of the Natural Environment Research Council, said there would be some cuts among BASs 400 employees. BASs funding had been kept up, shielded from deeper cuts in NERCs budget, he said.