Eco-tourism threatens the Antarctic

Why the white wilderness needs our care
James Barnes, BBC The Green Room 31 Mar 08;

The number of ships visiting the Antarctic is growing; and that brings an increasing risk of accidents that could pollute the coastline and the Southern Ocean. In the Green Room this week, James Barnes says that governments must act now to protect the White Continent.

Antarctica and the Southern Ocean constitute the planet's last great wilderness; yet even that far-away region is becoming increasingly overcrowded.

There are fishing boats, both legal and illegal, including a new breed that vacuum krill from the sea.

There are commercial tourism operations, research ships, private yachts, whaling fleets, and supply vessels.

In the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC), we are concerned that the increasing number and size of vessels - which operate in many respects outside effective regulation - coupled with the lack of appropriate requirements for ice-strengthening or a prohibition on using heavy-grade fuel oils, leaves the region open to significant risks.



I am sure that general awareness of risks from shipping to the Antarctic and its wildlife has been heightened by recent accidents in the region.

Most prominent was the quick sinking of the M/S Explorer in late November 2007, a well-known commercial tourism vessel that was purpose-built for the Antarctic several decades ago.

Fortunately, everyone on board was rescued, and just minor pollution resulted from the light diesel fuel it carried.

But that accident is a wake-up call - had it not occurred in perfect weather conditions, with other vessels close by to rescue the passengers and crew, there could have been a tragedy.

Next time we won't be as lucky.

Weak regulations

A number of other recent incidents in the Southern Ocean have resulted in pollution or in vessels adrift and out of control:

* the M/V Lyubov Orlova ran aground at Deception Island in the South Shetlands in November 2006 and needed assistance to be re-floated
* the M/V Nordkapp, another commercial tourism vessel, grounded at Deception Island in January 2007 spilling marine diesel
* the M/S Fram lost power on 30 December 2007 along the Antarctic Peninsula and drifted into an iceberg
* the trawler Argos Georgia was adrift for 15 days in ice after losing power while fishing in the Ross Sea off Antarctica's northern coast on 23 December last year
* in early 2007, an explosion and fire on the Nisshin Maru, the Japanese whale processing ship, resulted in one death and loss of power for several days under dangerous conditions in sensitive waters

The fact that certain types of vessels, many of them not ice-strengthened, are concentrated at certain times of the year and in relatively few areas puts at risk the lives of crews and passengers as well as the wildlife and environment of the Antarctic.

But it isn't only the increased risk of shipping accidents that worries us. The International Maritime Organization (IMO), the UN body responsible for regulating shipping internationally, designated the Southern Ocean as a "special area", banning the disposal at sea or on shore of oily residues, chemicals and rubbish from ships - a good first step.

All these wastes should be kept on board by vessels operating in the Southern Ocean and disposed of when they return to their port of origin.

However, ships don't only generate these wastes, but also sewage and grey water (particularly on the larger cruise ships), as well as sulphur dioxide and carbon dioxide from the burning of fuel oil, and toxic chemicals from the paints used on their hulls to prevent bio-fouling.

Some vessels carry invasive or alien species on their hulls or in their ballast tanks.

The whaling fleet dumps large quantities of waste in the Southern Ocean every year, and re-fuels within the Antarctic Treaty area with a vessel registered under a Panamanian flag.

Overall, these sources of pollution remain inadequately regulated by the IMO, the International Whaling Commission or the Antarctic Treaty System. These organisations need to work together effectively.

Holes in the ship

Since it began in 1978, ASOC and its member groups have convinced governments to step up protection for the Antarctic in a number of areas.

We persuaded governments:

* to negotiate the world's first "ecosystem as a whole" fisheries management regime in 1982, the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR)
* to reject a proposed minerals convention in 1989
* and to agree on a far-reaching Environmental Protocol to the Antarctic Treaty in 1991, which banned all minerals activities indefinitely and created the essence of a World Park regime for the 10% of the Earth encompassed by the Southern Ocean and the continent.

However, the Protocol and CCAMLR, while salutary in many respects, leave significant legal and practical gaps.

There is no liability regime covering all vessels operating in the region, for example, nor an overall registry of "Antarctic" vessels that would allow their characteristics to be known and compliance with regulations to be enforced.



There are no ice-strengthening standards for Antarctic vessels of various classes and varying uses, and thus far, no regulation of types of fuel used.

This year, we are launching a new initiative to protect the Southern Ocean from the impacts of vessels operating in the region.

As the IMO's Marine Environmental Protection Committee begins a week-long meeting in London, we are calling on its 167 members to take the vital steps necessary to prevent major marine disasters in the Antarctic and to protect Antarctica's sensitive and increasingly vulnerable marine and coastal environments.

We are asking them to:

* ban the use of heavy grade fuel oils on all vessels in Antarctic waters
* require appropriate ice-strengthening standards for all Antarctic vessels, whether for fishing, whaling, research, tourism or supply
* place further restrictions on the discharge of both untreated and treated sewage and grey water in the Southern Ocean
* commit to the introduction of a system of vessel traffic monitoring and information for the Antarctic, which includes information on the vessels' relevant characteristics
* undertake a comprehensive assessment of the threats to the Antarctic environment and to safety of life at sea, and come up with adequate ways of combating them.

Common future

No one owns Antarctica, although a few countries persist in maintaining their frozen claims to slices of the continent.

In reality, the international community is responsible for the region, operating through the Antarctic Treaty and its related agreements, and through the IWC and the IMO.

ASOC is calling on all the governments party to these treaties to begin working in concert to ensure the highest standards for vessels operating in the region, to limit access by vessels which lack appropriate equipment, to set clear protection standards for sewage and ballast water, and to take the actions needed over the longer term to protect the Antarctic environment and avoid needless loss of human life.

Unless these vital steps are taken, accidents more serious than the ones we have seen so far must inevitably happen.

When they do, the last great wilderness will become a little less wild, and a little less special.

James Barnes is an international environmental lawyer who has spent 35 years working on environmental treaties. He is currently executive director of ASOC

The Green Room is a series of opinion articles on environmental topics running weekly on the BBC News website

Environmentalist call for curb on Antarctic shipping
Merco Press 31 Mar 08;

Environmental campaigners are calling for greater restrictions on shipping around Antarctica in order to prevent damage to its unique ecosystems

More tourists than ever before are visiting Antarctica, some in ships not designed for the harsh conditions.

Campaigners say the sinking of the M/S Explorer last year was a wake-up call.

The Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC) is asking the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to strengthen its rules.

The IMO's environment committee is meeting this week in London.

"The IMO is the only body that can agree stringent vessel standards, equipment and procedures in order to protect human life and the marine environment for all vessels using Antarctic waters," said James Barnes, ASOC's executive director.

ASOC and its allies are calling for the banning from Antarctic waters of ships that use heavy oil as fuel. They want to see tighter restrictions on the discharge of sewage and grey water, and a requirement that all vessels entering the region are strengthened to withstand icy conditions.

International rescue

So enticing is the lure of the White Continent that Antarctic tourism has grown about five-fold in the last 15 years.

Figures from the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators suggest that 37,552 tourists visited Antarctica during 2006-07, the majority arriving by sea.

IAATO is meeting next April in Punta del Este, Uruguay.

ASOC is concerned that many of the vessels carrying them are not ice-strengthened. This makes serious accidents more likely, and increases the risk of an oil spillage if a ship gets into trouble.

They have documented six incidents in little more than a year which carried a risk of major contamination, the most notable being the holing of the M/S Explorer - probably by an iceberg - which resulted in the vessel sinking and an international rescue mission for passengers and crew.

Antarctica is the unique home to several varieties of penguin, an important base for others such as seals, and a vital feeding ground for whales.

"It's fragile, hostile at times, yet staggeringly beautiful," said Vassili Papastavrou, a biologist with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (Ifaw) which is backing ASOC's bid.

"You just don't get such abundance of wildlife in an undisturbed environment anywhere else in the world."

Oil impact

Antarctica is heavily regulated by the Antarctic Treaty and its various protocols and annexes.

They ban mineral exploitation, limit uses of the continent to "peaceful purposes", and require member governments to protect the unique environment.

But the treaty has only 46 members, and governments broadly supporting the bid for greater regulations - including the UK - will have to convince the much larger IMO membership that the extra curbs are necessary.

Requiring ice-strengthening and banning ships fuelled by heavy oil would have an impact on businesses currently operating in the region, according to John Shears, head of the Environment and Information Division at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and senior environmental advisor to the UK delegation at Antarctic Treaty meetings.

"BAS's ice-strengthened research vessels use marine gas oil, which is like diesel fuel, and if it spills it will evaporate and disperse quickly in the sea," he told BBC News.

"A spill of heavy fuel oil would have a more significant environmental impact because the fuel coalesces in the cold water and is very persistent, making it exceptionally difficult to clean up.

"A ban would certainly affect some of the very large cruise ships."

The meeting of the IMO's Maritime Environment Protection Committee runs until Friday. (BBC/MP)

Eco-tourism 'major threat' to Antarctic
Caroline Gammell, The Telegraph 31 Mar 08;

The rising popularity of "eco-tourist" trips to the Antarctic, fuelled by the so-called "Saga Generation", could create an environmental disaster, it is claimed.

It is only a matter of time before a major disaster in the Antarctic causes a severe loss of life unless rules are tightened on shipping and tourism in the highly sensitive area, an environmental group says.

Incidents such as the sinking of the cruise ship Explorer last November, with 24 elderly Britons on board, could become common if nothing changes, the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (Asoc) claims.

It says it was sheer luck that no one died when the 38-year-old ship hit an iceberg, punching a fist-sized hole through the hull.

In the past two years, six vessels have gone aground or drifted in the Antarctic, putting lives at risk and damaging the area.

The pressure group warns that as ships increase in size to meet the growing demands of tourism, the chances of an environmental disaster - such as a major oil spill - also rise.

The Antarctic has become increasingly popular, with the number of visitors growing from 5,000 in 1990 to more than 40,000 last year.

Asoc estimates that numbers are doubling every five years, partly because of the rise of the "Saga Generation" - wealthy pensioners who are spending their money on adventurous trips.

When it releases its report later today, Asoc will urge the UN's International Maritime Organisation to take "urgent and comprehensive" action to protect the vulnerable region. It will call for:

• Ice strengthening standards for all Antarctic vessels including all fishing and research ships as well as tourist and commercial ships.

• An immediate ban on the use and transportation of heavy grade fuels in the Southern Ocean.

• Further restriction on the release of untreated and treated sewage deposited into the Southern Ocean.

• The introduction of a vessel traffic monitoring system to track ships.

Sian Prior, from Asoc, said "collective responsibility" was needed on the part of all countries with a vested interest in the region.

"We fear that if nothing changes there will be a major disaster. We could see a very large oil spill or a large loss of life - or both."