Some good news is coming out of Antarctica this week, as the countries who manage the region are currently in meetings to discuss new controls over the fleets of passenger ships that have been swarming its icy waters. Tourism to the Antarctic has jumped from 10,000 visitors a decade ago to over 45,000 this past year, the AP reports, and with that comes increased concern about environmental impact to the already precarious region.While the current rules state that visitors cannot leave any garbage or human waste behind in the waters, there have been few regulations on the types of vessels allowed to travel to Antarctica, and what kind of fuel they can use. This is of particular concern because there have been several incidents in the past few years, including the sinking of the Explorer, in which ships have either run aground or have not been strong enough to withstand an impact with an iceberg. According to the AP, these cases were a wake-up call for Trevor Hughes, the head of Antarctic policy at New Zealand's foreign ministry, and experts from the Antarctic Treaty are looking to establish a new code. Hughes told the AP:
Increased oversight can only mean good things for the region, says our colleague Jonathan Tourtellot, who runs National Geographic's Center for Sustainable Destinations. "One of the concerns has been about unsuitably large cruise ships visiting the Antarctic," he said. "My hope is that this will be a constructive move.""Without regulations, we are going to have a disaster where a lot of lives are lost and where oil spills out into the environment, and we see penguins being smothered and poisoned by fuel oil in their rookeries," he said.
[The AP]
Photo: National Geographic My Shot user Tatyana Yegorova
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This is definitely a good initiative to prevent the disaster like “Titanic”. I hope this will protect wild life along with humans. Hotel Booking
This can only be a good thing - to protect the wildlife especially. Often with oil-spills, local residents onshore take on the lions share of the clean up, in this kind of environment, however, the disaster is much worse as there are no onshore locals to help!
This is definitely a good initiative to prevent the disaster like “Titanic”. Sole F80 TreadmillI hope this will protect wild life along with humans.
This is definitely a good initiative to prevent the disaster like “Titanic”.Celebrity Cruise line I hope this will protect wild life along with humans.
Its surprising to read that there have been several incidents in the past few years in which ships have not been strong enough to withstand an impact with an iceberg. I would have thought that a visit to Antarctica, the Arctic or even an Alaska Cruise would have required a ship specially designed for this eventuality.