News in this edition:

31-01. Four Yachts Engaged For Fly-Sail Tour Operations.
31-02. Three Antarctic Voyages Scheduled For Yacht 'Sarah W. Vorwerk'.
31-03. Climbers Targeting First Ascents In Danco Coast Region.
31-04. Review Of Macquarie Island Management Plan Underway.
31-05. Coming Events Relevant to Non-Government Activities.

IN READING PLEASE NOTE: This newsletter is being produced in the interest of improved information sharing in the Antarctic community. Inclusion of information in it should not be taken to imply endorsement, by the publishers of ANAN News, of any company, program or associated activity that is listed, nor that the activity has necessarily completed all environmental impact assessments required under the legislation of the 'home' nation.

Fly-sail tourist operations involving four yachts and connecting flights to and from Argentina's Marambio station on Seymour Island in the north-east of the Antarctic Peninsula are expected to be conducted in late February. The operations planned, which all up could involve between 70 and 80 passengers, are believed to be the first to utilise air transport to feed commercial yacht operations in the Antarctic.

The coordinated activity is being organised by the French company Croisieres Australes which for sometime has acted as an agent for a number of commercial yachts which operate in the Peninsula region. Reports indicate that the tourists involved, who are thought to mainly be Spanish, will apparently be flown from Ushuaia, Argentina, to Marambio station and back on Argentinean military aircraft. No information is available on the number of flights involved or the type of aircraft that will be used, although indications are that accommodation will be provided to the tourists at Marambio where needed.

The yacht-based part of the tour operation is to take place in two, four day segments, with the first operating from Marambio from 20-24 February, and the second from 24-28 February. Given the short period of time involved for each trip, it is expected that yacht operations will be limited to the general area of Erebus and Terror Gulf within 100 km of Seymour Island. Visits by tourist ships to that region have grown steadily in recent years (ANAN-23/02, 7 June 2000), the prime site being Paulet Island where close to 4,200 visitors went ashore on 48 tourist vessel visits in the 1999-2000 austral summer.

The four yachts that Croisieres Australes has organised for the operation are the 'Sarah W. Vorwerk' (see ANAN-31/02 following), 'Fernande', 'Kotick I', and 'Golden Fleece' (ANAN-21/03, 10 May 2000), all of whom have been conducting commercial tourist voyages in the Peninsula and nearby regions for many years. Each of the yachts can carry up to eight or ten passengers, for a total of thirty-six between them at any one time.

Use of aircraft to feed yacht operations means that tourists will be able to avoid the often uncomfortable and time consuming voyage across the Drake Passage between South America and the Antarctic Peninsula. While this is attractive to visitors, weather can often delay flight schedules to and from Marambio which can in turn impact on the overall operation, as well as other linked activities (see ANAN-31/03 following).

Attempts were made ten years ago to conduct similar air-sea linked tourist operations involving flights to Chile's Presidente Aduardo Frei station on King George Island, however this exercise has not been repeated due to the difficulties of maintaining flight schedules because of weather. Earlier this year the Puerto Williams, Chile, based company Victory Cruises announced that it was offering fly-sail opportunities to tourists to and from Frei in conjunction with the small Chilean regional air line La linea aerea de la Patagonia (ANAN-17/03, 15 March 2000). To date there has been no indication as to when these operations will commence however.

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The 18 m steel sloop 'Sarah W. Vorwerk', which has been conducting commercial tour operations in the Antarctic Peninsula region since 1995, is scheduled to undertake three voyages to the Scotia Sea and Peninsula region during the 2000-01 austral summer.

The first voyage is a six week trip to South Georgia and is to leave Stanley in the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) on 26 October and return there on 7 December. Most of November is to be spent visiting places along the northern coast of the island, with trekking to various points inland being offered to passengers. This will be the third time the 'Sarah W. Vorwerk' has visited South Georgia.

On return to Stanley the yacht will relocate to Ushuaia, Argentina, and will conduct tourist operations in the Cape Horn area before commencing her first voyage to the Peninsula for the season from Ushuaia on 4 January.

That voyage, which will be the twelfth journey the yacht has made to the Peninsula since its first visit early in 1996, is expected to last four weeks and will involve passenger landings as conditions permit at various points in the South Shetland Islands and along the north-western Peninsula as far south as Penola Strait. Places usually visited by the yacht include Livingston Island, the Melchior Islands, Paradise Bay, Petermann Island, Ukraine's Vernadsky station, Port Lockroy, the U.S. station Palmer on Anvers Island, and Enterprise Island. This is a similar pattern to most tourist operations to the area. Return to Ushuaia on this voyage is scheduled for 7 February.

The yacht's third voyage involves the joint activity of supporting a climbing group in the Danco Coast area (see ANAN-31/03 following), and tourist operations from Marambio station on Seymour Island in the north-east of the Antarctic Peninsula (see ANAN-31/01 proceeding). The voyage is currently scheduled to be conducted between 15 February to 6 March. The climbing group is however negotiating for an earlier departure from Ushuaia as the current timetable would only allow the yacht five days to travel from the Argentinian port south to the Danco Coast and then north around the tip of the Peninsula to Seymour Island where it is due on 20 February for tour operations.

'Sarah W. Vorwerk', which is owned an operated by Henk and Bettina Boersma, was built in Germany in 1988. The Boersma's, who when not operating the vessel are based in Europe, purchased the vessel in 1995 and made their first voyage to the Peninsula early the next year. During the austral winter the sloop travels north to Brazilian waters where whale watching tours are offered.

The yacht is named after Bettina's great grandmother who made a number of voyages around Cape Horn with her ship owner husband in the mid 19th Century. Voyages to the Peninsula on board the yacht normally cost around $US5,800 per person, while those to South Georgia cost just over $US7,000. Further information about the yacht and its voyages is available at: http://www.capehorn.net

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Climbers from Australia and Germany are planning to conduct a number of first ascents of peaks in the Danco Coast area of the north-western Antarctic Peninsula, and undertake ski touring on nearby Wiencke Island over a two week period in February-March. The expedition is the latest in a series of private and commercial climbing ventures to the north-west Peninsula area, a region which seems likely to attract increasing interest from the mountaineering fraternity (ANAN-16/01, 1 March 2000).

Peaks around the coast of Wilhelmina Bay in the southern part of Gerlache Strait are the main focus of the expedition. Climbs targeted include Jeffries Peak in the south-east of the Bay, and the area around Stolze Peak on Arctowski Peninsula to the west. Both Jeffries and Stolze Peaks lie within 1,500 m of the shore and ascents of them will involve climbs of sheer rock faces.

The yacht 'Sarah W. Vorwerk' is being chartered to transport the expedition from Ushuaia, Argentina, to the Peninsula and back for the climbing program. Departure from Ushuaia is currently scheduled for 15 February and return there is put at around 6 March; although the climbers are hoping that they will be able to leave Ushuaia earlier than mid-February. The yacht is not scheduled to return to Ushuaia from its previous voyage until 7 February however which leaves a little scope for a slightly earlier departure from there (see ANAN-31/02 proceeding).

Once the four person group is deployed in Wilhelmina Bay the 'Sarah W. Vorwerk' is to head for Marambio station to conduct tour operations from there (see ANAN-31/01 proceeding), and is expected to be away for around two weeks. Provided the voyage south is achieved in good time, the climbing expedition is expected to have at least ten days ashore on the Danco Coast.

The climbers will be equipped with sea kayaks and these will be used for transport around Wilhelmena Bay while the yacht is away and to establish base camps for the various climbs. The ski-touring, climbing visit to Wiencke Island is scheduled for after the 'Sarah W. Vorwerk' picks up the climbers from the Danco Coast and prior to return to Ushuaia.

The venture is being organised by Andrew McAuley (Australia) and Carsten Birckhahn (Germany), and their support crew consists of Vicki O'Malley (Australia) and Anke Clauss (Germany). McAuley and Birckhahn will undertake the climbing while O'Malley and Clauss, who are less experienced, will only accompany the climbers on the more straight-forward peaks.

McAuley and Birckhahn have considerable climbing experience. Three years ago they organised a combined sea kayak, climbing expedition to the Chilean Fiords south of Puerto Natales, making several firstascents of a series of rock towers in the Dedos del Diablo group of mountains; and prior to that had climbed the spectacular Central Tower in Chile's Torres del Paine National Park. The pair have also climbed in Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Nepal, New Zealand and Pakistan; while Carsten has also twice crossed the Southern Patagonian icecap between Chile and Argentina.

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A review of the management plan that governs activities on World Heritage listed Macquarie Island in the sub-Antarctic is underway. The key aims of the work are to revise all aspects of the e xisting 1991 plan, including visitor management, and to incorporate last month's extension of the boundary of the Macquarie Island Nature Reserve from the low water mark out to three nautical miles.

The review is currently in its initial stages and over the next two months the emphasis will be on matters relating to ocean waters within three nautical miles of the island. Work next year is to focus on land management issues and further rounds of consultation are to occur as that phase gets underway. Currently it is hoped that the new plan will be in place early in 2002.

Views have recently been sought on matters related to the three mile zone from many stakeholders, including tour operators who currently visit the island or have expressed interest in doing so. Potential marine management issues involved include access, shipping and small-boat operations, anchorages and marine pollution. No commercial or recreational fishing or other extractive activities will be permitted within the three nautical mile area.

The current planning environment of Macquarie Island and its associated waters is complex. Prime responsibility for the island lies with Tasmania, one of Australia's six States, which has administered it for nearly 175 years. The Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service (TPWS) manages the island and waters out to three nautical miles on behalf of the State Government.

The Australian Federal Government is responsible for management of the Exclusive Economic Zone which stretches to 200 nautical miles off shore. Last October it established a new 16,000 Hectare marine park to the south-east of the island (ANAN-8/07, 10 November 1999).

The World Heritage Area, which extends to twelve nautical miles, results from Federal legislation, however activities there are normally managed by TPWS under both State and Federal legislation. Additionally the Australia Government via its Antarctic Division has operated a year-round station on Macquarie Island since 1948 and because of the operational implications involved it works closely with TPWS personnel on tourism and other management issues.

Due to a perceived increase in demand for visits to Macquarie Island, the TPWS increased the number of visitors allowed in a season from 500 to 750, and has revised its application process for non-governmental visits to the island (ANAN-29/03, 30 August 2000). Visitor access to the sub-Antarctic islands of New Zealand, which are relatively close to Macquarie, are being managed via licence agreements between the N.Z. Department of Conservation and three companies, Heritage Expeditions of NZ, Supernova Expeditions of the U.K., and Zeghram Expeditions of the U.S. (ANAN-8/01, 10 November 1999).

Persons wishing to provide comments about the current work should contact Cheryl Nagel, TPWS Principal Policy Advisor at: cheryl.nagel@dpiwe.tas.gov.au.

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YEAR 2000

4-6 October (Boulder, United States)
American Polar Society Bi-Annual Meeting.
Contact: mckie@cires.colarado.edu (Julie McKie)

11 October (Sydney, Australia)
16 October (Canberra, Australia)
19 October (Newcastle, Australia)
25 October (Brisbane, Australia)
1 November 2000 (Melbourne, Australia)
3 November 2000 (Hobart, Australia)
7 November 2000 (Adelaide, Australia)
14 November 2000 (Perth, Australia)
Presentations by Peter Treseder on his 1999-2000 cross-Antarctica attempt.
Contact: jodyh@yhansw.org.au (Jody Hoffman)

YEAR 2001

5 February (King George Island, Antarctica)
Fourth Antarctic Marathon and Half Marathon.
Contact: marathon@shore.net (Thom Gilligan)

May [Date to be set](St Petersburg, Russia)
Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting XXIV

July [Dates to be set] (Washington, D.C., United States).
IAATO year 2001 annual meeting.
Contact: iaato@iaato.org (Denise Landau)(invitation required).

20-24 August (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
COMNAP XIII (including the sub-committee on Tourism and Non-Government Operations).
Contact: jsayers@comnap.aq (Jack Sayers).

YEAR 2002

February [Date to be set](King George Island, Antarctica)
Fifth Antarctic Marathon and Half Marathon.
Contact: marathon@shore.net (Thom Gilligan)

July [Dates/location to be set] (Europe).
IAATO year 2002 annual meeting.
Contact: iaato@iaato.org (Denise Landau)(invitation required).

13-18 July (Shanghai, China)
COMNAP XIV (including the sub-committee on Tourism and Non-Government Operations).
Contact: jsayers@comnap.aq (Jack Sayers).

YEAR 2003

July [Dates to be set] (Seattle, United States).
IAATO year 2003 annual meeting.
Contact: iaato@iaato.org (Denise Landau)(invitation required).

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