ANTARCTIC NON-GOVERNMENT ACTIVITY NEWS
Tourism Industry |
Brief news items on Antarctic and sub-Antarctic
non-government expedition activities.
ANAN 48
Wednesday, 6 June 2001
News in this edition:
48-01 Province Seeks Increased Share Of Peninsula Tourism Market
48-02 Plans For 'Endurance' Search Still Uncertain
48-03 Ketch For Multi-Season, Science/Adventure, Operation
48-04 'Braveheart' For South Georgia 'Ham' Expedition
48-05 'Polar Star' Prepares For Polar Tourist Operations
48-06 Conferences To Mark Antarctic Treaty's 40th Anniversary
48-07 Coming Events Relevant to Non-Government Activities
IN READING PLEASE NOTE: This newsletter is produced in the interest of improved information sharing in the Antarctic and sub-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 concerned.
PROVINCE SEEKS INCREASED SHARE OF PENINSULA TOURISM MARKET
[ANAN-48/01]
The southern Chilean Province of Magallanes sees the planned up-grade of Chile's Tentiente Rodolfo Marsh airfield on King George Island (KGI) as the key to increasing its share of the growing Antarctic Peninsula tourism market. Reliable sources in Chile have told ANAN, however, that provincial officials may be over-estimating the benefits involved, saying that in their view the up-grade is "modest", and that "no significant increase in tourism numbers" can be expected to result from it alone in the near future.
Few details are currently available about the up-grade proposed at Marsh. It is known that the compacted gravel runway is to be lengthened "minimally" beyond its present 1,292 m and that the work is expected to take two seasons with completion currently due prior to the austral summer of 2003-04. Whether air navigation facilities there will also be up-graded to support aircraft operations is, however, unknown at this time.
According to a recent report published in the U.S. newspaper 'The Christian Science Monitor', politicians in Magallanes see the work planned on KGI as the key to the introduction of regular 'on time' air services between the regional capital of Punta Arenas and KGI that would enable effective fly-cruise operations to be introduced.
The article quotes Magallanes Province Governor, Jaime Jelincic, as saying that he believes that the runway up-grade could see "thousands of tourists" flying to and from KGI from the provincial capital, and that development of a port on KGI near the airfield "would be the next logical step". ANAN has been told, however, that development of such a "port" is not being considered in any way at this time by Chilean Antarctic authorities.
Suitably up-graded airfield facilities at Marsh could see tourist-ship passengers flown across the often stormy Drake Passage to and from tourist ships that would operate from KGI, thus saving three to four days travel on each voyage. In theory, such an operation could reduce tour company costs and increase the number of tourists visiting the region each summer as many ship's conducting eight- to ten-day Ushuaia-Peninsula voyages could, for example, undertake three or sometimes four, extra voyages a season.
There has been considerable interest, and some attempts, over the last decade to use both Marsh and the Argentinian airfield at Marambio on Seymour Island for fly-cruise operations (ANAN-42/01, 28 February 2001 and ANAN-17/03, 15 March 2000). To date, however, weather and other conditions have often intervened to deter such operations and only if air navigation facilities are significantly up-graded at Marsh would it be possible to contemplate sufficiently reliable, regular flights, of the type needed.
Governor Jelincic and other Magallanes officials are believed to see ship-linked flights into KGI as the only way to break what was described in the Monitor's article as the current "strangle hold" Ushuaia, Argentina, has on tourism to the Antarctic Peninsula area. In recent years up to twenty tour-ships have operated over 120 voyages from Ushuaia to the Peninsula and Scotia Arc region each season with close to 13,000 tourists to the southern-most continent passing through the port (ANAN-25/02, 5 July 2000).
Ushuaia's attraction to tour operators was enhanced in 1998 when a new airport with a 3,800 m runway capable of handling Boeing-747 sized aircraft was opened. Such aircraft have been used on occasion to fly tour ship passengers to Ushuaia from North America, something that would not have been possible at the city's original airport (ANAN-17/07, 15 March 2000).
Punta Arenas, Magallanes' capital, was the main port for tourist voyages to the Antarctic Peninsula region up until the early 1990s. Over the past decade, however, Ushuaia has taken over that role primarily because it is closer to the continent, ships operating from there being able to reach the area around the South Shetland Islands in a day and a half, half the time required for the voyage there from Punta Arenas.
During the last two austral summers, Punta Arenas has seen as few as 300 passengers from small- to medium-sized Antarctic tour ships pass through. The decline in Antarctic tourist traffic over the past decade has seen Punta Arenas slip from first to fourth in the South American region as an Antarctic tour ship gateway after Ushuaia, Buenos Aires and Stanley in the Falkland Islands. Schedules for those ships released for the 2001-02 season suggest that that numbers will fall even further, although two one-day visits by the 1,266-passenger ship 'Ryndam' on its way from and to the Peninsula region will boost overall Antartic-related figures (ANAN-47/01, 23 May 2001).
Air and tour operator Adventure Network International and the small Chilean regional air line La linea aerea de la Patagonia (DAP) fly tourists to Antarctica from the Punta Arenas airport, however, the numbers involved in those operations are only in the order of 150-200 people each season (ANAN-28/02, 16 August 2000 and ANAN-17/03, 15 March 2000). In addition, tourist overflights of the Peninsula operate from the Magallanes capital, although the total number of tourists that take part in them each season is unknown (ANAN-47/04, 23 May 2001).
PLANS FOR 'ENDURANCE' SEARCH UNCERTAIN
[ANAN-48/02]
A report in the London 'Times' newspaper last week suggests that U.S. underwater explorer Dr Robert Ballard is making progress in his attempt to organise an expedition to locate and photograph the remains of Sir Ernest Shackleton's ship 'Endurance' on the floor of the Weddell Sea (ANAN-27/01, 2 August 2000). Ballard currently hopes to conduct the operation next February, although ANAN understands that further funds are needed before the $US2M venture can proceed and that there is as yet no guarantee that the expedition will occur in 2001-02.
Ballard is reported to have raised, with the support of the U.S. National Geographic Society where he is an 'Explorer in Residence', sufficient funds "to hire" the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) icebreaker 'Polar Sea' for the Weddell Sea operation and a support crew of thirty, although he is said to be still seeking sponsorship for the fuel the ship will use for the venture. ANAN has not yet been able to confirm plans for use of 'Polar Sea' with the USCG, or obtain details of precisely what arrangements for use of the vessel would govern such an operation.
If all the money needed for the venture is finally obtained, 'The Times' article suggests that 'Polar Sea' would leave Punta Arenas, Chile, in late January next year. Should ice conditions be reasonable the vessel would probably arrive in the vicinity of Endurance's position some 300 km east of the Larsen Ice Shelf in early February. According to Ballard, weather satellite data indicate that the general region has been close to ice-free in early February in three of the last four Antarctic summers, although no actual on-site observations are available to back up that analysis.
Expedition plans mentioned in the 'Times' article call for side-scan sonar on the 'Polar Sea' and the 'Argus' (one of two remotely-controlled mini-submarines Ballard proposes to use for the operation) to locate 'Endurance' on the sea floor before 'Little Hercules', the second submersible, is sent down over 3,000 m to photograph the wreck. The article goes on to say that Ballard has already pinpointed the position of 'Endurance' to within "a few square miles", presumably on the basis of navigational data collected by Shackleton and his men. However, the accuracy of those data is unknown.
Ice conditions in the region of the wreck will be critical to the success of any expedition that is eventally mounted. While Dr Ballard says the launching of the two submersibles will not require a large hole in the pack ice, given the uncertainty of Endurance's position, a long, time-consuming grid-search of the area may be needed to locate the historic ship. Heavy ice conditions would probably slow any such grid search and thus limit the area that could be swept in the time likely to be available for the operation. When 'Titanic' was discovered, the search vessel used had to sweep a 900 square kilometre area of the ice-free North Atlantic for three weeks before the wreck was finally located.
'The Times' article also quotes the underwater expert as saying that he believes that what is left of the 'Endurance' will be well preserved as his group is "pretty sure that there are no wood-borer molluscs on the floor of the Weddell Sea". When he discovered the 'Titanic' on the North Atlantic sea bed in 1985 it was found that anything made of wood had been eaten away. 'Titanic' lies close to 4,000 m below the surface while 'Endurance' is believed to lie in around 3,400 m of water.
Ballard was quoted as saying that he is "under no illusions that [the 'Endurance' operation] is going to be easy [as the] Antarctic is not a forgiving place." The full 'Times' article on Dr Ballard's planned operation is available on line at: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,74-205041,00.html
KETCH FOR MULTI-SEASON, SCIENCE/ADVENTURE, OPERATION
[ANAN-48/03]
The Canadian-registered, fifteen-metre ketch 'Gambo', is to undertake the first of a proposed multi-season, multi-national, operation in Antarctic and sub-Antarctic waters in 2001-02 in support of a venture that hopes to combine serious research with adventure activities.
The Antarctic Convergence Zone Project (ACZP) proposes to use 'Gambo' to visit what it calls "strategic" glaciers, ice caps and glacierised islands in the Antarctic Peninsula and Antarctic Convergence Zone regions. Its aim is to obtain glaciological-related information from up to eight locations to try and access the impact of global warming and human-made pollutants on southern regions.
According to the organisers, all of those who are expected to be involved in the expedition have research experience in the fields of either glaciology, atmospheric or environmental sciences. Each also has had considerable experience in climbing, sailing, kayaking and scuba-diving activities in remote areas of Alaska, Canada, Europe, Iceland, India, Nepal, New Zealand, South America and the U.S. Three have worked with national programs in the Ross Sea and Peninsula sectors of Antarctica. Expedition organisers consider this blend of research and adventure experience as the key to the venture's success.
As well as the scientific objectives, the expedition also proposes to conduct what it says are a variety of complimentry adventure objectives, including mountaineering, kayak and scuba operations, and a "sustained ski-traverse" along the plateau of the Antarctic Peninsula. Details of these activities have not yet been announced and plans for them may not be finalised until after the expedition gets underway.
The expedition's first season is to commence early next October when three of its members set sail from Lyttleton, New Zealand, on 'Gambo', on a two-month delivery voyage across the South Pacific Ocean to Ushuaia, Argentina. Four others are to join the ketch in Ushuaia prior to its mid-December departure for operations in the vicinity of the South Shetland, Weincke and Adelaide Islands, as well as the Peninsula itself. 'Gambo' is expected to return to Ushuaia in mid-March where it will spend the austral winter of 2002.
The ACZP's second season in 2002-03 is to focus on the convergence zone in the vicinity of the Scotia Sea, before the ship visits the South Orkney, South Georgia, South Sandwich and Bouvet Islands. Plans for operations on the latter three islands are subject to approval by authorities in the U.K. and Norway.
The yacht will probably spend the southern winter of 2003 in South Africa and organisers say that its return voyage to New Zealand from there may involve visits to South African, French, Australian and N.Z. sub-Antarctic Islands in the Indian and Pacific Ocean regions. Details of that operation have not yet been developed.
'Gambo' is an eighteen-tonne steel ketch that was built in south-west Canada in 1985 out of framed six-millimetre galvanised mild-steel plate insulated with seven centimetres of polyurethane foam. According to ACZP's organisers, it was designed to operate in remote inhospitable, areas for long periods and carries a wide range of navigational and safety equipment. The yacht, which was recently sailed from Canada's west coast to New Zealand, is currently undergoing what is described as a complete refit in Lyttleton.
ACZP's leader Dr Alun Hubbard, is from the U.K. but is currently based at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand on a U.K. Royal Society Research Fellowship. He, Grant Redvers and Peter Taylor, who are from New Zealand and the U.S. respectively, are to sail 'Gambo' from Lyttleton to Ushuaia. The other four members, who will join 'Gambo' in Ushuaia, are Dave Hildes and Marcus Kellerhals (Canada), Elliot Robertson (U.K.), and David Fasel (Switzerland). "Support and reserve team" members are Jon Millar and Crystal Huscroft (Canada) and Andy Mitchell and Susanne Hanson (Denmark).
The proposed climate change/glacier response modelling will be carried out by Hubbard and Hildes in collaboration with the Universities of Edinburgh and British Columbia, and the heavy metal persistant organic pollutant analyses by Kellerhals and Mitchell in collaboration with the Center of Glaciology, University of Wales, Aberystwyth and the University of Insubria.
Alun Hubbard can be contacted at: ahubbard@geog.canterbury.ac.nz
'BRAVEHEART' FOR SOUTH GEORGIA 'HAM' EXPEDITION
[ANAN-48/04]
[ANAN-48/04]
The thirty-six metre New Zealand registered vessel 'Braveheart' is believed to have been hired to transport a ham radio group to and from sub-Antarctic South Georgia early next year for an operation which could see as many as 100,000 contacts made with ham operators in many parts of the world.
Few details are currently available about the ham group involved, or whether it has permission from the Government of South Georgia and the South Shetland Islands for the proposed operation on South Georgia.
One, so far unconfirmed, report suggests that the U.S. based 'Dxpeditioners' group which has conducted a number of similar operations on sub-Antarctic islands over the past seven years are behind the planned expedition. Those activities included Campbell Island in January 1999, Heard Island in January 1997, and Peter I Island in February 1994.
'Braveheart' is expected to leave New Zealand in November and travel across the South Pacific via Pitcairn Island and Ushuaia, Argentina, and arrive at Stanley in the Falkland Islands some time late this year. Some 10 to 15 ham operators are thought to be planning to embark on the vessel there for the three- to four-day passage to South Georgia. It is not known where on the island the group proposes to set up its camp, or how long they will operate on the island, although a three- to four-week period of operation appears likely given past expeditions of this kind. The group is expected to return to Stanley at the completion of the expedition.
So far unconfirmed reports indicate that following the South Georgia venture 'Braveheart' is to return to New Zealand in September 2002 after first supporting a U.S. National Geographic Society film crew in southern areas of Argentina and Chile, as well as Easter Island, in the first half of next year.
'Braveheart' was built in Japan in 1982 and first operated as a fisheries research vessel. Over the last few years it has supported expeditions to the Ross Sea (ANAN-39/03, 17 January 2001), sub-Antarctic Campbell Island, and other islands near NZ as well as in the Pacific and as far north as Alaska.
During the Peter I operation, some 60,000 contacts with the outside world were made, and at Heard nearly 81,000. 'Braveheart' supported the Campbell Island venture, the French-government-chartered vessel 'Marion Defrense' was used for the Heard operation, and the Russian vessel 'Akademic Federov' for the expedition to Peter I Island.
'POLAR STAR' PREPARES FOR POLAR TOURIST OPERATIONS
[ANAN-48/05]
Work to prepare the vessel 'Polar Star' for polar tourist operations was completed in a Canadian ship yard late last month and the vessel is expected to leave Halifax later this week in the lead up to tour operations in both Arctic and Antarctic waters.
'Polar Star', the former Swedish Coast Guard ship 'Njord', was purchased by Halifax-based Karlsen Shipping Company in April last year (ANAN-22/01, 24 May 2000). Conversion of the vessel, which was carried out at the Verrault Navigation Company's yard in Quebec, took six months and involved adding three decks with fifty new self-contained double-passenger cabins, a panoramic lounge, and lecture facilities. The ship's dining room and galley area were redesigned and renovated and other general alterations made (ANAN-28/09, 16 August 2000).
Karlsen Shipping President Martin Karlsen told ANAN late last week that after it left Verrault's yard, 'Polar Star' travelled to Halifax where work is currently being completed on "a few small items" at his company's wharf facilities. He went on to say that he was "very pleased with the conversion [and that] comments from various tour operators who have inspected the vessel [were] very favourable".
'Polar Star' is to operate seven-day cruises for Svalbard Polar Travel Pty. Ltd. (SPT) this northern summer before returning to Halifax sometime in September. She will leave from there for Argentina and, beginning in mid-November, is to conduct eleven voyages to the Antarctic Peninsula and Scotia Arc regions during a four-month season (ANAN-32/01, 11 October 2000).
While SPT will charter the ship for Arctic voyages, Polar Star Expeditions Pty. Ltd. (PSE) has been established to operate the Antarctic side of the venture. PSE was established by Norwegian Ulf Prytz who is Chairman and the majority owner of SPT, and Karlsen who owns the shipping company. 'Polar Star' is to be chartered by it from the Halifax-based ship operator for Antarctic tour operations.
'Polar Star' is ice strengthened, is eighty-seven metres long, twenty-one metres wide, has a draft of almost seven metres and can carry 98 passengers. Registered in Barbados, the ship is of 3,500 gross registered tonnes (GRT) which is 1,000 tonnes heavier than her GRT prior to the conversion work.
Further information about the ship and Polar Star Expeditions is available on line at http://www.polarstarex.com
CONFERENCES TO MARK ANTARCTIC TREATY'S 40TH ANNIVERSARY
[ANAN-48/06]
[ANAN-48/06]
Two conferences, one in Australia later this month, and the other in the U.K. in mid-November, have been organised to mark the 40th anniversary of the entry into force of the Antarctic Treaty on 23 June 1961. The organisers of each gathering plan to look at the Treaty's achievements, current workings, and its future.
The Institute of Antarctic and Ocean Studies (IASOS) of the University of Tasmania in Hobart, Australia, is to hold a one-day conference titled "The Antarctic: Past, Present and Future" on 22 June 2001. Organisers say that the conference will provide an opportunity to examine the significance of the Antarctic Treaty and its related instruments in the management of the Antarctic, and to discuss present and future issues confronting Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. Enquires about the meeting should be directed to Dr Julia Green at Julia.Green@utas.edu.au.
The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), in association with the Fridjof Nansen Institute of Norway and with the support of the US Tinker Foundation, is to hold a four-day conference from 12-16 November entitled "40 Years On: The Antarctic Treaty System in the 21st Century". It is understood that the conference will involve expert speakers and selected participants and is to be held at the FCO's conference centre at Wilton Park in Southern England. Matters to be examined are to include existing regulatory mechanisms, the interface with other global organisations, internal mechanisms, and the strength and weaknesses of the present system.
COMING EVENTS RELEVANT TO NON-GOVERNMENT ACTIVITIES
[ANAN-48/07]
[ANAN-48/07]
Please forward notice of events via e-mail to: tourism@aad.gov.au. Up-dates are made to ANAN's web site at
http://www.antdiv.gov.au/goingsouth/tourism/Research/BibConf/Confer/default.asp as soon as new information comes to hand.
YEAR 2001
22 June (Hobart, Australia)
Conference: "The Antarctic: Past, Present and Future".
Contact: Julia.Green@utas.edu.a (Dr Julia Green).
27-30 June (Washington, D.C., United States)
IAATO year 2001 annual meeting.
Contact: iaato@iaato.org (Denise Landau)(invitation required).
9-20 July (St Petersburg, Russia).
Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting XXIV
Contact: vtitushkin@mid.ru (Executive Secretary, ATCM XXIV)
17-21 July (St Petersburg, Russia).
Antarctic Geodesy Symposium 2001.
Contact: aerogeodezia@actor.ru (Dr Alexander Yuskevitch)
20-24 August (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
COMNAP XIII (including the sub-committee on Tourism and
Non-Government Operations).
Contact: jsayers@comnap.aq (Jack Sayers).
27 August - 1 September (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
VIII SCAR Biology Symposium (Session on "Antarctic research, human
impacts and environmental policy").
For registration contact: vu_conference@dienst.vu.nl
September [Dates to be finalised] (Brittany, France)
Second international exhibition for polar philately.
Contact: philex.pole@laposte.net
12-16 November 2001 (Wilton Park, U.K.)
Conference: "40 Years On: The Antarctic Treaty System in the 21st Century".
Participation by invitation only.
YEAR 2002
30 January 2002 (King George Island, Antarctica)
Fifth Antarctic Marathon and Half Marathon.
Contact: marathon@shore.net (Thom Gilligan)
8-19 July (Shanghai, China).
XXVII SCAR (Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research).
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).
NEXT ISSUE: ANAN-49 to be issued on Wednesday, 20 June 2001
Deadline for items: Sunday, 17 June 2001 @ 2359 UTC. (send any items to tourism@aad.gov.au)
