News in this edition:

20-01. Expert's Meeting Recommends Development of Ship Guidelines.
20-02. Shackleton's South Georgia Traverse Again Retraced.
20-03. 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, 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.

A meeting of Antarctic shipping experts held in the U.K. last week is expected to recommend to the next full Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM) that guidelines for shipping and related operations in Antarctic waters should be established (ANAN-19/01, 12 April 2000). Despite the agreement reached in London however, it is likely to be several years before a final version of the guidelines is accepted by an Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM), and longer still before they are available to non Treaty nations under the auspices of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).
Antarctic shipping guidelines are being developed in order to raise ship safety standards and so minimise serious incidents occuring at sea in the Antarctic region, and in particular the associated environmental damage that can often flow from such events. Inspite of this indications are that the proposed Antarctic ship code will not be compulsory.

The London meeting apparently considered that the primary target for the guidelines will be vessels operated by national programs and the non-government tourism industry. The majority of delegations reportedly felt however that when available they should be made available to all government and non-government vessels above 500 gross registered tonnes (GRT) operating in Antarctic waters.

Indications from last week's meeting are that the guidelines will apply to vessels operating in Antarctic waters south of Latitude 60° which is the northern boundary of the Antarctic Treaty area. During discussions there were suggestions that they should apply as far north as the Antarctic Convergence, however given that there was no mandate for that from ATCM-23 held in Peru in May-June last year, the 60° South limit prevailed. It is currently envisaged that the guidelines will be promulgated as a 'handbook of information' to ship operators and crews and will cover both environmental and safety issues.

Given that many government and non-government vessels which operate in Antarctic waters also work in the Arctic, there has been general agreement for some time that the separate guidelines being developed for both regions should be compatible in a number of key areas. The guidelines concept arose from work that the IMO has been undertaking since the early 1990s to develop a code for Arctic shipping, which originated from concerns about the increasing level of shipping activity in that region and the number of incidents that were occuring there.

Due to the need for an appropriate Arctic-Antarctic linkage, it had been planned that the London meeting would examine the latest draft of Arctic guidelines to determine which aspects of them should be included in its Antarctic counterpart. The IMO group which is developing the Arctic Code had only met the week before the Antarctic conference however, and as what are being described as 'significant' changes were agreed to at the IMO meeting, the latest draft had not been finalised in time for evaluation at the Antarctic gathering.

As a result the ATCM-sponsored meeting turned its attention to developing a list of 'high level principles' which concentrate only on those issues that are special to Antarctica and which do not cut across exisiting international instruments that already govern aspects of ship operations in Antarctic waters (ANAN-19/01, 12 April 2000). The principles discussed included the hazards that are particular to Antarctic waters and matters to do with environmental protection, damage control, navigational equipment, crew training, and weather and sea ice information.

The report from last week's meeting will now be considered by the next full ATCM sometime in 2001 as it appears unlikely that the truncated ATCM which may now occur in September this year will be able to consider it. If that is the case and next year's ATCM follows past practice, further work on the guidelines might be referred to another meeting of experts in the last half of 2001. Even if that meeting could finalise the guidelines, something which is by no means certain, it would be mid 2002 before the following ATCM could consider the draft and agree to it, and 2003 at the earliest before the IMO could formally consider the outcome from the Treaty System.

ATCM-23 agreed last year that IMO endorsement of any future guidelines is necessary in order that they are available to the increasing number of vessels visiting the Antarctic region who are registered in the 100 plus nations outside the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS), but who are members of the maritime body. An increasing number of vessels that are involved in non-government operations in Antarctica are registered in States outside the ATS.

[ANAN-20/01]

TO THE TOP

Sir Ernest Shackleton's historic 1916 crossing of South Georgia was retraced for the second time in less than two months when three mountaineers completed the journey over a three day period in mid-April. This month's crossing follows the seven day trek by the 'Shackleton 2000' expedition along the route after its reinactment of Shackleton's open boat journey from the Antarctic Peninsula to South Georgia last January-February (ANAN-16/03, 1 March 2000).

The latest traverse was conducted by the noted mountaineers Reinhold Messner, Stephan Venables and Conrad Anker, who were part of a group involved in filming two versions of the story of Shackleton's 'Endurance' voyage, one a documentary for broadcast on the U.S. Public Broadcasting System, and the other a large format forty-minute feature film for exhibition in IMAX® theaters world wide. Both films are scheduled for release in 2001 (ANAN-6/03, 13 October and ANAN-8/03, 10 November 1999).

Filming on the island earlier this month was supported from the 'Akademic Shulyekin', the same vessel used for the first phase of operations last October-November. 'Shulyekin' had left Montivideo, Uruguay, on 5 April with twenty five film and logistics support crew on board, and arrived at South Georgia five days later. Messner, Venables and Anker were deployed from the ship at King Haakon Bay in the south-west of the island and started their traverse from there on 11 April. Cameraman Mike Graber and two mountain guides accompanied the three mountaineers for the first day of their trek before returning to King Haakon Bay and travelling with the ship on its journey around the island to the northern coast.

The three climbers found the route up over Trident Ridge and across the Crean and Fortuna Glaciers significantly different from the conditions that existed in Shackleton's time. According to Messner the glaciers in the area are far more broken up than was the case eighty-four years ago when Shackleton was there, and long detours were frequently needed around the most dangerous areas. Messner was reported to have suffered a broken foot during the crossing of the Crean Glacier however this did not appear to have impeded his ability to complete the journey. The trio camped on the Crean Glacier overnight on the 12th and the Fortuna on the 13th, before descending to the former whaling station Stromness on the morning of 14 April.

After their arrival at Stromness the three climbers boarded the 'Shulyekin' which was waiting off-shore. Filming operations continued over the next few days, the ship visiting Grytviken before departing for Montivideo where it was scheduled to arrive on 21 April.

[ANAN-20/02]

TO THE TOP

4 May 2000 (Hobart, Australia)
The 1999-2000 mountaineering expedition to Heard Island (presentation).
Contact: tourism@aad.gov.au

10 May, London, U.K.
Adventure Network International presentation at the Royal Geographical Society.
Contact: adventurenetwork@compuserve.com

25-28 June 2000 (Hobart, Australia)
IAATO year 2000 annual meeting.
Contact: iaato@iaato.org

9-15 July 2000 (Tokyo, Japan)
COMNAP (including the sub-committee on Tourism and Non-Government Operations).
Contact: jsayers@comnap.aq

[ANAN-20/03]

TO THE TOP