ANTARCTIC NON-GOVERNMENT ACTIVITY NEWS
Tourism Industry |
Brief news items on Antarctic and sub-Antarctic
non-government expedition activities.
ANAN 76
Wednesday, 3 July 2002
News in this edition:
76-01. TANGO to continue consideration of non-government issues.
76-02. Heard Island climbing, ski-boarding plans appear on hold.
76-03. Group confirms 2002-03 'Jules Verne' attempt; one of four?
76-04. Doctoral thesis on Antarctic tourism available 'on line'.
76-05. Book on Ross Sea tour ship voyage released.
76-06. Coming Events Relevant to Non-Government Activities.
TANGO TO CONTINUE CONSIDERATION OF NON-GOVERNMENT ISSUES
[ANAN-76/01]
Issues related to tourist and other non-government activities in Antarctica will again be discussed at this year’s Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs (COMNAP) fourteenth annual meeting, which is to be held in Shanghai, China, from 15-19 July. COMNAP’s Tourism and Non-government Organisations (TANGO) sub-committee is scheduled to convene for several hours on 15 July.
COMNAP is made up of the heads of national Antarctic program agencies, or their operational arms, and during the week COMNAP XIV will consider issues in the fields of environmental management, safety and incident reporting, communications, emergency response, and the operation of ships and aircraft. Despite the national program focus for COMNAP, decisions taken on such matters often eventually filter through to the private sector and are therefore of direct relevance to those involved in non-government operations.
Around 15 national program representatives from some 8 nations are expected to take part in TANGO discussions this year. A representative of the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) is also expected to be present at the beginning of the meeting to provide a briefing on current and anticipated tourist activities, and the tour body's on-going work on a range of matters (ANAN 75/05, 19 June 2002).
Several items are listed for consideration during the period that TANGO is expected to meet. Discussion on what is termed a TANGO Survey is mentioned, although what was involved in the survey is not made clear. Representatives will have the opportunity to present for discussion any papers or views that they may have on non-government activities that relate to national program operations. Last year, for example, TANGO discussed a number of adventure tourism incidents that occurred during the 2000-01 austral summer (ANAN 40/02, 31 January 2001; ANAN 41/01, 03 and 04, 14 February 2001).
Following the sub-committee meeting, the Chair will report to COMNAP s plenary session. Any significant matters may be presented by COMNAP in an Information Paper to this year’s Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM XXV) in September. Detailed discussions on tourism issues have been listed for consideration at ATCM XXV (ANAN 52/01, 1 August 2001).
According to the agenda, a new Chair of TANGO is to be elected at the end of the meeting. The present Chairman, Sweden’s Anders Karlquist, has headed the sub-committee since 1997.
Plans by three European-based adventurers to climb and ski-board down ice-covered sub-Antarctic Heard Island in the southern Indian Ocean this August appear at minimum to be on hold as no further announcements about the venture have been made since the expedition web site was established about three months ago.
The trio, Stian Hagen, an alpine skier and mountaineer from Norway, Xandi Kruezeder, a German mountaineer and photojournalist, and Todd Mason, a snowboarder and mountaineer from Australia, operate under the name 'Pure Adventure' (ANAN-70/05, 10 April 2002).
Their web site (http://www.pure-adventure.com/) is still, as it was last April, indicating that they are planning to leave Fremantle in south-western Australia in August this year for the island, however, Australian officials responsible for managing Heard Island, told ANAN last week that they had not received a permit application by any adventure group to visit the island in August or September.
Heard Island, together with the nearby McDonald Islands, is an Australian territory and activity there is governed by a Management Plan. Entry to the territory requires a permit. The current Management Plan allows for climbing and other adventure pursuits in particular management areas, but they and all other activities carried out on the island are subject to environmental impact and other assessments as part of the permit process.
Several attempts made by ANAN to contact any of the three organisers by e-mail in recent weeks have so far brought no response.
UK-based company Offshore Challenges last month purchased the maxi-catamaran 'Orange', current holder of the Jules Verne trophy for the fastest journey around the globe by sail (ANAN-72/01, 8 May 2002). Offshore plans to use the craft, to be renamed 'Kingfisher 2' after its major sponsor, for an attempt on the circumnavigation record that could see the super yacht crossing sub-Antarctic waters sometime between January and April 2003.
In announcing the company's plans, one of its principals, Ellen MacArthur, indicated that she believes as many as three other separate syndicates may also attempt to claim the Jules Verne trophy during the 2002-03 austral summer.
Few details about the other groups she referred to have surfaced to date. One of them may, however, be an all-female crew on the 37-m maxi catamaran 'Club Med', the craft that won the around-the-world sailing event 'The Race' early last year (ANAN-40/07, 31 January 2001). As part of sponsorship requirements, 'Club Med' is likely to be renamed if it takes part in any Jules Verne attempt. 'Orange'/'Kingfisher 2' took part in The Race as 'Innovation Explorer', finishing second.
MacArthur said that "There is no doubt [current holder] Bruno Peyron has set a fast record, but improvements will be made to the super yacht, particularly in terms of sail inventory, and we're all going to be pushing that bit harder as well". She continued by stressing that "just completing the Jules Verne course is in itself a big thing, for history shows that less than half the attempts made on the record in the past didn't make it around the globe".
Sailing craft that attempt the Jules Verne record are required to circumnavigate the globe via the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn, starting and finishing at the western entrance to the English Channel at a line drawn between Lizard Point in south-west England and the island of Ushant in north-west France (ANAN-66/10, 13 February 2002). 'Orange' spent a month in sub-Antarctic waters during its successful trip earlier this year, at times reaching speeds close to 40 knots (ANAN-70/03, 10 April 2002).
Offshore Challenges says that it has entered 'Kingfisher 2' in the second running of 'The Race', which is scheduled for 2003-04, however, they have yet to attract a sponsor that will fund the attempt. That event also involves high speed passages across sub-Antarctic waters.
A Doctoral thesis that conducts a wide-ranging review and analysis of Antarctic tourism and ways in which it could be managed in the future was made available 'on line' last month. The 470-page thesis was completed early last year at the University of Tasmania, Australia, by researcher Phil Tracey; a PhD was subsequently awarded.
In the initial chapters, Dr Tracey reviews the literature, discusses Antarctic values, and examines physical, environmental, operational, geographic, social, economic, and industry aspects of Antarctic tourism. The thesis also examines the current Antarctic tourism management system, including an analysis of different national approaches to putting the Madrid Protocol into practice and of voluntary management mechanisms developed by the tourism industry.
A number of case studies of tourism management for southern oceanic islands and northern polar locations are included. These were examined in order to try and define how tourist activities, similar to those conducted in the Antarctic, are managed in different places and in different legal contexts. These studies showed that tourism management models and practices for these areas are very different to the Antarctic system, although a common thread is that the tools of protected area management planning are used in most cases.
Dr Tracey argues that despite the framework provided by the Madrid Protocol, and the important contribution made by the Antarctic tourism industry, there are significant shortcomings in the present Antarctic tourism management system. He suggests, as have others, that an alternative approach using protected area management planning be adopted by the Antarctic Treaty System, arguing that such an approach is possible.
The thesis, entitled 'Managing Antarctic Tourism', is available on line and can be down loaded in PDF format at: http://home.talkcity.com/GaiaWay/philjt/Managing_Antarctic_tourism.html. The online thesis is in three files, around 2.3 megabytes each. CD ROM versions are available to libraries, or interested persons who may experience problems with web access. Requests for the CD or queries about the thesis should be directed to Dr Tracey via e-mail at: PhillipandJenny@yahoo.com. Copies of the CD are also available from ANAN at tourism@aad.gov.au.
A new book that provides a photographic and written account of a visit to Antarctica on a tourist vessel was released last month. The 72-page, hard cover 'coffee-table' book whose title is "A Voyage to Antarctica", is the work of Australian Dr Stuart Miller who travelled to the Ross Sea region on the tour ship 'Kapitan Khlebnikov' in December 2000.
The voyage that Miller took part in had as its focus the emperor penguin colonies that are located along the north-eastern shore of Victoria Land the Ross Sea, although the voyage also visited sub-Antarctic Macquarie, Campbell and Auckland Islands.
The book's photographs and text reflects the author/photographer's interest in wildlife. Although he is a surgeon by profession, Miller is also a professionally-trained photographer who has won awards in Australia for his wildlife photography.
The new publication, whose ISBN is 0958064202 1, has 67 full-colour photographs, including four double-page spreads and two full-page maps. There is also an appendix with hints on photography.
Dr Miller has published the book himself and further information on it, and orders for it, should be addressed to him via e-mail at: stuartmiller@bigpond.com. It sells for around $US25, plus $US5 postage for Australian-based purchasers, and $US10 for those in other countries.
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 2002
15-19 July (Shanghai, China)
COMNAP XIV (including the sub-committee on Tourism and Non-Government Operations).
Contact: jsayers@comnap.aq (Jack Sayers)
15-26 July (Shanghai, China).
XXVII SCAR (Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research).
10-20 September (Warsaw, Poland)
Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting XXV
YEAR 2003
4-11 January (South Geographic Pole)
High Plateau Marathon (ANAN-65/02, 30 January 2002).
Contact: general@adventure-network.com
3 March (King George Island, Antarctica)
Sixth Antarctic Marathon and Half Marathon (ANAN-68/09, 13 March 2002).
Contact: marathon@shore.net (Thom Gilligan).
July [Dates to be set] (Seattle, United States).
IAATO year 2003 annual meeting.
Contact: iaato@iaato.org (Denise Landau)(invitation required).
24 November (Queen Mary and Dronning Maud Land regions).
Total solar eclipse (See ANAN-61/09, 5 December 2001).
Next edition issued on Wednesday, 17 July 2002 @ 0600 UTC.
Deadline for items: Sunday, 14 July 2002 @ 2359 UTC.
ANTARCTIC NON-GOVERNMENT ACTIVITY NEWS (ANAN)
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.
Links provided in ANAN stories are working at the time of first publication.
AVAILABLE ON LINE TWENTY-FOUR HOURS A DAY:
ANAN archive (including this issue with its built in links):
http://www.antdiv.gov.au/goingsouth/tourism/News/default.asp
Coming events related to non-governmental activity:
http://www.antdiv.gov.au/goingsouth/tourism/Research/BibConf/Confer/default.asp
Links to tourist industry web sites:
http://www.antdiv.gov.au/goingsouth/tourism/Industry/default.asp
EDITOR: Dave Moser (David.Moser@aad.gov.au).
POSTAL: Australian Antarctic Division, Kingston, Tasmania, Australia 7050
TELEPHONE: +61-3-6232-3347 (2200-0600 UTC).
FACSIMILE: +61-3-6232-3357.
RESEARCH/WRITING: Martin Betts (Martin.Betts@aad.gov.au)
TELEPHONE/FACSIMILE: +61-3-6267-4790 (2200-1100 UTC).
FACSIMILE: +61-3-6232-3500.
© Commonwealth of Australia 2002
All images, text and downloadable files in ANAN are copyright ©Commonwealth of Australia 2002 or respective authors where indicated. You may down load, display, print and reproduce this material in unaltered form only (retaining this notice) for your personal, non-commercial use or use within your organisation. Source credit must be given as follows: © 2002 Australian Antarctic Division, Kingston Tasmania 7050
Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, all other rights are reserved.
Requests for further authorisation should be directed to:
The Editor, ANAN
Antarctic Treaty and Government Section
Australian Antarctic Division
KINGSTON TAS 7050
AUSTRALIA
or by email to tourism@aad.gov.au