ANTARCTIC NON-GOVERNMENT ACTIVITY NEWS
Tourism Industry |
Brief news items on Antarctic and sub-Antarctic
non-government expedition activities.
ANAN 74
Wednesday, 5 June 2002
News in this edition:
74-01. Aspen meeting on Antarctic tourism "successful".
74-02. Oil pollution control course planned for IAATO reps.
74-03. IPHC establishes polar heritage web-site.
74-04. Eight Antarctic trekkers reach North Geographic Pole.
74-05. Coming Events relevant to non-government activities.
74-06. Corrections to previous ANAN stories.
ASPEN MEETING ON ANTARCTIC TOURISM "SUCCESSFUL"
[ANAN-74/01]
The International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) says that the meeting on Antarctic tourism it convened in Aspen, Colorado in the U.S on 29 and 30 April 2002 (ANAN 69/01, 27 March 2002) provided an opportunity for informal discussions on a number of Antarctic tourism issues. The meeting, which was viewed as successful by the sixteen participants, addressed the nature and scale of tourist activities in Antarctica, including possible future trends, and considered the existing framework for regulation and oversight of tourist activities in Antarctica with a view to assessing its effectiveness and identifying possible gaps.
The participants, who took part in their personal capacities, comprised: officials from five Antarctic Treaty Consultative Party (ATCP) governments (Chile, New Zealand, Norway, UK and USA), including one who was also a representatives of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR); the IAATO Executive Secretary and four IAATO member companies; and representatives of three NGOs, the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC), the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and Oceanites, a non-profit foundation that has been collecting baseline environmental data at key tourist landing sites in the Antarctic Peninsula area since 1994 (ANAN 60/08, 21 November 2001). Discussion resulted in a number of ideas and suggestions that, it was felt, could contribute to the detailed consideration of Antarctic tourism called for at the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM) to be held in Warsaw in September this year (ANAN 52/01, 1 August 2001). Discussion and outcomes from the meeting may be used to prepare information or working papers for the ATCM.
##ANAN-74 ends.
The International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) is to hold a one-day oil pollution control course for representatives of its member companies immediately after its annual meeting being held early next month.
The oil-spill training program has been jointly developed by Oil Spill Response Limited (OSRL), a leading oil-spill response company, and the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), organisers of the UK national Antarctic program. The course is to be run at OSRL's Southampton headquarters on 5 July.
IAATO and its member companies have, as required by Antarctic Treaty System and international marine agreements that have come into force over the last decade, undertaken considerable work to first prevent, and then deal with, any oil spill that may emanate from tourist vessels in Antarctic waters. While response plans to deal with any such an event are in place, the oil-spill course is seen by the industry's as part of its on-going responsibility to further tighten its training and planning systems.
Topics that are expected to be covered in Southampton include: environmental protection; the impact and clean up of fuel spills in Antarctica; safety, welfare and practical problems in cold climates; previous incidents; the probable, size and type of fuel spills; the movement and fate of oil spills (including a scenario exercise); contingency planning; the planned Antarctic shipping code; legal issues; and an examination of OSRL's clean-up equipment.
OSRL/BAS says that the course is suitable for ship's officers, operations managers, expedition leaders and anyone who has responsibility for producing oil-spill contingency plans for Antarctic operations. Participation in the course is expected to cost IAATO affiliated companies around $US550 for each staff member who attends.
IAATO member companies have operated around 15 tour ships in the Antarctic region each season over the past five years.
The International Polar Heritage Committee (IPHC) has established a web-site aimed at providing information on matters relating to the human heritage of both the Arctic and Antarctic regions. Establishment of the IPHC and development of the new site has come as increasing efforts are being made to preserve historic sites from the 'heroic era' of exploration in several areas of Antarctica.
The new on-line facility, which is still under development, is being designed to assist anyone with an interest in the preservation and protection of the history of exploration, research and exploitation in polar areas, and particularly with regard to issues that relate to historic sites and monuments.
The web-site features on-going news and reports, polar heritage reference material and links to other polar and Antarctic sites. A register of what the IPHC says are "recognised international experts" who are or have been involved in the preservation, protection and conservation of polar heritage is also provided. That experts' list includes archaeologists, historians, conservators, management and policy specialists.
The IPHC, which was established in November 2000, is a scientific sub-committee of the non-government International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS). ICOMOS advises the United Nations' Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) on matters related to human heritage and culture.
IPHC held its first meeting at the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge in the United Kingdom in May 2001. It members are appointed by ICOMOS National Committees in countries that have an active interest in, or responsibility for, polar heritage issues. The Committee's foundation members came from Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, South Africa, Sweden, and the UK.
The Committee's new website can be accessed at: http://www.polarheritage.com/. Further information on the IPHC can be obtained via e-mail from its General Secretary, Paul Chaplin, at pchaplin@online.no, or President, Dr Susan Barr, at susan.barr@ra.no.
Until 1999, Chaplin was the Executive Director of The New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust (NZAHT) a non-government, non-profit, charitable trust. NZAHT launched an appeal for $US15m last February in a drive to conserve and restore the four historic expedition huts established in the Ross Sea region around the turn of the nineteenth Century (ANAN-67/02, 27 February 2002).
Similar work has been undertaken by a non-government group to conserve the historic huts at Commonwealth Bay, George V Land (ANAN-38/08, 3 January 2001), while work by both government and non-government groups has also been organised in other areas of the continent.
Eight adventurers who have trekked to the South Geographic Pole (SGP) or crossed the Antarctic continent in recent years were among a number of people who reached the North Geographic Pole (NGP) from either Canadian or Russian territory over the last month.
United States couple Tina and Thomas Sjorgen reached the NGP late last week after a trek across Arctic pack-ice, thus achieving their aim of reaching both geographic poles in a single year. The Sjorgens reached the SGP late last January on their second attempt after having to abandon a similar venture a year earlier. Another person to reach the SGP last January, Paul Landry from Canada, arrived at the Earth's northern-most point on 5 May with Singaporean Khoo Swee Chiow. Landry guided two Adventure Network International clients on a commercial 'Ski South Pole' journey earlier this year (ANAN-65/03, 30 January 2002). Swee Chiow reached the SGP on 31 December 99 with three other Singaporean nationals (ANAN 12/03, 5 January 2000).
Australians Eric Philips and Jon Muir also reached the NGP last month. Both had trekked to the SGP with Peter Hillary in 1998-99 (ANAN-27/10, 2 August 2000).
Pom Oliver, one of five UK women who skied from Hercules Inlet in Ellsworth Land to the SGP in the 1999-2000 season (ANAN-12/03, 5 January 2000), was forced to abandon her attempt on its northern counterpart after suffering frost bitten feet last month. Her companions, Caroline Hamilton and Anne Daniels, who also reached the SGP early in 2000, continued and reached the NGP on 1 June
While those expeditions succeeded in reaching their goal, several others with past Antarctic connections did not.
Belgians, Alain Hubert and Dixie Dansercoer, whose aim had been to travel the 2,300 km across the Arctic Ocean via the NGP unsupported, had to abandon their attempt before reaching the Pole. In 1997-98 they crossed the Antarctic continent from Dronning Maud Land to Ross Island via the SGP, and later returned to Antarctica on several occasions on mountaineering ventures (ANAN-41/10, 14 February 2001).
Australians Peter Treseder and Tim Jarvis also failed in their efforts to reach the NGP from northern Russia after Treseder suffered a severe frost bitten foot. Treseder had previously trekked twice to the SGP from coastal Antarctica, the first in 1997-98 with two companions, and the second two seasons later with Jarvis as part of what became a failed attempt to cross the Antarctic continent in record time (ANAN-11/01, 22 December 1999).
At least seven separate expeditions made up of around a dozen adventurers attempted to travel cross the Arctic pack ice to the NGP during the recently completed season. Few details are currently available about treks planned for the interior of Antarctica during the 2002-03 austral summer (ANAN-73/01, 22 May 2002).
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
1-4 July (Cambridge, U.K.)
IAATO year 2002 annual meeting.
Contact: iaato@iaato.org (Denise Landau)(invitation required).
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 for 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).
Thanks to John Splettstoesser at IAATO for the following corrections to two articles in ANAN 73 (22 May 2002), 73/01 and 73/04 respectively.
ANAN 73/01 incorrectly gave the height for Vinson Massif as 5,140 m. This was the original figure derived from a survey undertaken in 1957-58 during the International Geophysical Year from a snow-cat traverse that approached the mountains from the west and surveyed peaks with a theodolite. In the 1979-80 season, a more accurate survey using satellites determined the height to be 4,897 m, the official figure used today, although 'Geographic Names of the Antarctic', second edition 1995, still quoted the 5,140 m figure.
ANAN 73/04 gave the name of the geographic feature named after Lars-Eric Lindblad as 'Linblad Bay' when in fact its correct title is Lindblad Cove. The United States Board of Geographic Names database denotes the 'feature name' as a 'Cove' while it lists its 'feature type' as a 'Bay', hence the confusion.
Next edition issued on Wednesday, 19 June 2002 @ 0600 UTC.
Deadline for items: Sunday, 16 June 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
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