
A team from the government of South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands was in Norway during September to advance in the planning for the reindeer eradication project which is expected to begin on New Year and to discuss about the krill fishery, reports the South Georgia Newsletter September edition.

There are impressive plans to mark the centenary of British explorer Ernest Shackleton’s 1914 Endurance expedition with a search for the wreck of the vessel on the sea floor in the Weddell Sea and a feature film based on the failed expedition, shipwreck and subsequent survival and heroic rescue the stranded men.

The Australian icebreaker Aurora Australis is stuck in ice 80 nautical miles from the Antarctic coast. The vessel is heading to the frozen continent with 50 scientists from around the world to study the relationship between sea ice and marine life.

The government of South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands, GSGSSI, announced a vast Marine Protected Areas around the Island in February and it is likely there is more protection to come that could affect krill fishing and long-lining, reports the September edition of the South Georgia newsletter.

A small increase in cruise ship visitors to South Georgia compared to the previous season bucks the trend of the Antarctic region. In the 2011/12 season tourists to the Antarctic fell by 22%, whereas in South Georgia they increased 8%, according to the September edition of the South Georgia Newsletter.

A fictional feature film has been shot in Antarctica for the first time. Scottish climbing instructor and documentary-maker Kirk Watson filmed South of Sanity while working for British Antarctic Survey (BAS).

Thirty environmental groups on Thursday issued a joint appeal for upcoming talks on establishing protected zones in the seas off East Antarctica to widen the scope of the marine haven.

The Royal Navy Ice patrol HMS Protector heading for another Antarctic season previous visit to South Africa and Falkland Islands has produced stunning sonar imagery of the wreck of a wartime RFA tanker to help salvage experts study the state of it.

Scientists and flight crew members with Operation IceBridge, NASA's airborne mission to study Earth's changing polar ice have started another campaign over Antarctica. Now in its fourth year, IceBridge's return to the Antarctic comes almost a year after the discovery of a large rift in the continent's Pine Island Glacier.

UK government plans to merge the British Antarctic Survey with the National Oceanography Centre have triggered global debate among scientists and politicians with former US Vice-president Al Gore wading into the discussion and fears in the Falkland Islands of a diminished “British presence” in the region.