MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Venezuela helped by Uruguay plans Antarctic base

Venezuelan scientists and military officers set out Friday on their country's first expedition to Antarctica, leaving Friday from Uruguay's capital Montevideo aboard the Uruguayan naval research ship “Oyarbide”.

The 45-day expedition, funded by Venezuela, became a controversial issue in Uruguay because the main opposition party claimed it was a step towards a military alliance with the government of President Hugo Chavez. Members of the opposition also objected the presence of Venezuelan naval officers in a Uruguayan navy vessel and the alleged flying of the Venezuelan flag in Uruguay's Antarctic base once the mission arrives in a week's time. However Uruguay's congress, dominated by the ruling coalition approved the mission and Uruguayan president Tabare Vazquez aides described the trip as a gesture of friendship. Earlier this month President Chavez hailed eleven scientists and five naval officers as "pioneers" when he announced the Antarctic expedition earlier this month. During the congressional debate to authorize the expedition it was revealed that Venezuela's Science and Technology minister had traveled several times to Montevideo to coordinate the expedition. The Venezuelan scientists will join their Uruguayan counterparts to study a range of subjects including sea bed topography, marine species and the effects of climate change in Antarctica. Uruguayan naval personnel that have been involved in Antarctic activities since 1980 when the country opened its base "Jose Artigas" are expected to advise Venezuelan navy officers on ice infested waters navigation. Uruguay with the support of Chile, Argentina and the UK among others is a member of the Antarctic Treaty since 1980. Venezuela aspires to become a consultative member and hopes to establish a research station in the continent. Antarctica, governed by the Antarctic Treaty System, is designated a natural scientific reserve. The primary purpose of the Antarctic Treaty is to ensure "in the interests of all mankind that Antarctica shall continue forever to be used exclusively for peaceful purposes and shall not become the scene or object of international discord." To this end it prohibits military activity, except in support of science; prohibits nuclear explosions and the disposal of nuclear waste; promotes scientific research and the exchange of data; and holds all territorial claims in abeyance. The Treaty applies to the area south of 60° South Latitude, including all ice shelves and islands. Some 28 nations operate research stations on the continent and nearby islands Contrary to other occasions the "Oyarvide" left Montevideo harbor without public ceremony on its 2,300-mile journey to Uruguay's base in King George Island. Global warming could return predators to Antarctic waters Marine life in Antarctica will be at risk from an invasion of sharks, crabs and other predators if global warming continues, scientists warn. Crabs are poised to return to the Antarctic shallows, threatening creatures such as giant sea spiders and floppy ribbon worms, says a UK-US team. Bony fish and sharks would move in if waters warm further, threatening species with extinction, they say. In the last 50 years, sea surface temperatures around Antarctica have risen by 1 to 2C, which is more than twice the global average. Many Antarctic species are unique since they have evolved without predators for tens of millions of years. Speaking in Boston at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the researchers said global warming could fundamentally change the ecosystem, leading to the loss of some species. "Sharks are going to arrive in Antarctica as long as the warming trend continues, a bit more slowly than crabs - crabs are going to get there first" said Professor Cheryl Wilga of the University of Rhode Island (URI), US. "But once they do get there they are capable of eating the organisms that live there". Professor Wilga said the arrival of sharks and shell-crushing bony fishes would lead to dramatic changes in the number and proportions of species found there. Shrimp, ribbon worms and brittle stars are likely to be the most vulnerable to population declines. Dr Sven Thatje of the National Oceanography Centre at the University of Southampton, UK, said animals living in shallow water in Antarctica were unique on Earth today because they evolved in a very cold environment over tens of millions of years. "In the course of a process we call Antarctic cooling that started about 40 million years ago, all major seafloor predators such as sharks and crabs went extinct in Antarctica because they were not able to cope with these extreme conditions," he told BBC News. "Today, global warming is removing barriers to invasions and we've seen recently that crabs, especially king crabs, are on the doorstep of Antarctica - they can potentially re-invade the shallow waters if warming continues" The researchers say urgent local and global actions are needed to protect this last pristine environment. "We have to act now in Antarctica as elsewhere to save the diversity of the planet" said Dr Richard Aronson of Dauphin Island Sea Laboratory in Alabama. He added measures were needed to stop alien species being brought in through ships' ballast water. "The local actions are to control ship traffic and control dumping of ballast waters," he told the BBC. "The global actions are what we've been saying for all other environments - we have to control emissions of greenhouse gases." Animals that live on the seafloor of Antarctica are some of the strangest creatures on Earth. The extreme cold and lingering darkness has presented huge challenges to marine life over the passage of time, leading to the evolution of fish equipped with anti-freeze proteins in their blood, and a proliferation of filter feeders on the seabed. Fast-moving shell-crushing animals such as crabs and ocean-going sharks that are normally key predators have long been kept at bay, as their bodies cannot cope with very cold conditions. This has led to dominance on the Antarctic seafloor of soft-bodied, slow-moving invertebrates, similar to those found in ancient oceans prior to the evolution of shell-crushing predators.