South Georgia is looking ahead to a new record year in the coming 2015/16 cruise ship season, according to the latest edition of the South Georgia Newsletter.
The island of South Georgia attracted the highest ever number of cruise ship passengers in the 2014/15 season, in contrast to falling numbers of tourists visiting the Antarctic, according to the May edition of the South Georgia Newsletter.
Spanish government last Friday announced penalties that could reach more than €11 million against Spanish nationals, including companies involved in illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. An EU coalition of three international NGOs, including Environmental Justice Foundation, Oceana and WWF described the fines as a historic moment in the battle against IUU fishing and are calling on other EU member states to follow suit with their own nationals.
Studies of killer whales (Orca) in South Georgia waters may help fishermen avoid the whales stealing the fish off the fishing long-lines (termed depredation), according to the latest edition of South Georgia Newsletter.
The Falkland Islands government will be holding this week a reception for the team involved in the world's largest attempted rodent eradication project, in windy South Georgia, which completed the current baiting phase at the end of March.
Ushuaia daily Diario Fin del Mundo recalls that 33 years ago on 19 March 1982, the Argentine navy transport vessel ARA Bahía Buen Suceso landed in South Georgia a party of workers on contract to dismantle remains of the whaling station, and on arriving raised the Argentine flag. An incident which was to lead to the full-fledged conflict the following month.
The men and women of HMS Protector have helped the South Georgia Government by carrying out a beach cleanup and glacier survey. 700 miles east of the Falklands, South Georgia is a crescent shaped island with magnificent scenery and wildlife. But over the years debris from several shipwrecks has been washed up on the island’s beaches.
The South Georgia Heritage Trust (SGHT) has been awarded a quarter of a million pounds towards the final phase of the Habitat Restoration, or rodent eradication Project, reports South Georgia's Newsletter. The third phase of the several years program is scheduled to begin in February.
HMS Dragon made her first visit to South Georgia over Christmas, reports the South Georgia newsletter in its December edition. The Type 45 air defense destroyer had a Westland Lynx helicopter on board which was used to survey the Barff Peninsula for any remaining reindeer ahead of the arrival of the Norwegian SNO marksmen.
There were 24 harbor visits to Grytviken during December, the majority, eighteen, from cruise ships and charter yachts which between them brought nearly 2000 passengers to visit South Georgia, according to the SG Newsletter.