MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

World experts discuss in NZ safety rules for Antarctic tourism cruises

Four vessels have gone aground in Antarctica in the last three years.

There are fears that a shipping tragedy in the Antarctic is a disaster waiting to happen if the tourism industry is not regulated. A major international meeting of Antarctic Treaty Experts is taking place in New Zealand to discuss the issues.

However some tour operators say the industry is already well self regulated, despite recent incidents. The International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators is the organization that self regulates cruise vessels operating in Antarctica.

NZ Foreign Minister Murray McCully said at the opening of the meeting that because of the demand for cruises, shipping companies have been putting up larger vessels which are not suitable for the conditions they encounter.

“I am greatly concerned that unless we take action, there will be a serious maritime casualty involving a tourist vessel in Antarctica, and we will be faced with a humanitarian and environmental disaster,“ McCully said.

In 2007, 150 people got a little closer to the ice than they would have liked when their ship M/V The Explorer hit an iceberg and sunk, leaving them in life rafts in freezing conditions. A total of four vessels have gone aground in Antarctica in the last three years.

”We were lucky. No one was lost in that incident, but the fact that there have not been more serious consequences owes more to good luck than good management,“ he said in a speech. ”Clearly, we are on borrowed time.“

The number of annual visitors in tourist ships has quadrupled to around 46,000 over the last 15 years, and there are concerns some of the ships are not suitable for the extreme conditions.

Eighty delegates from 17 countries have gathered in Wellington to come up with rules to make touring the ice safer.

Antarctic Treaty Meeting of Experts co-chair Olav Orheim said that with tourist ships now going to the Antarctic with more than 2,000 passengers, something needs to be done.

”There are no facilities anywhere in the Antarctic that could handle such a group of people if something went wrong,“ Orheim says.

Recommendations are expected to include minimum safety standards for all boats and crew as well as plans for dealing with shipwrecks and oil spills. It is hoped the standards will be adopted by the International Maritime Organisation so they apply to all vessels.

But Antarctic tourist operators say the tourism industry has already formed an association with high standards. Nathan Russ from Heritage Expeditions says he does not know of any cowboys in the industry.

”Every cruise vessel that is operating to Antarctica is an IAATO (International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators) member at this point in time”.

The current discussions are scheduled to continue next May in Uruguay in the framework of the Antarctic Treaty.