Punta del Este, Uruguay. Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition welcomed steps at the 33rd Antarctic Treaty meeting to make climate change a major item on the agenda, and to keep momentum going on a network of Marine Protected Areas in the Southern Ocean.
The financial statements from the government of South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands ending December 2008 show a healthy surplus with fisheries licences, tourism and stamps, the three main sources of revenue.
Uruguay is hosting two Antarctic Treaty meetings which will officially be opened Monday May 3 in Punta del Este by Foreign Affairs minister Luís Almagro. Uruguayan authorities expect an attendance of over 350 foreign officials at the Thirty three Antarctic Treaty Consultative and the Thirteenth Committee on Environmental Protection meetings.
Work in Japan and Australia has revealed that a deep-ocean current is carrying frigid water rapidly northward from Antarctica along the edge of a giant underwater plateau.
The Antarctica season beginning in November is likely to be the last one as it has been known. Proposed changes to the type of fuel ships are allowed to burn and carry in this fragile ecosystem have now become a reality, making the future of big cruise ships in Antarctica uncertain.
China has sent its ocean-going fishing vessels Kai li and An Xin Hai to the Antarctic for the 2010 krill fishing season. During a 23 day exploratory fishing they caught 2.000 tons of krill, with a daily output of 100 tons, three times than originally expected.
Beginning in August 2011, most large cruise ships will no longer be able to sail in Antarctica. The International Maritime Organization last week adopted a ban on using and carrying heavy fuel oil on ships operating in Antarctic waters.
A small percentage of King Penguins in a variety of locations around the South Georgia Island are suffering from disease, possibly avian pox, reports the latest edition of the South Georgia Newsletter.
At nearly 200 meters below the ice, there is no light, the temperature is way below zero degrees, and scientists were expecting to find nothing more than a handful of microbes - and for good reason. So it’s easy to understand why they were so surprised to find not a single (evolved) life form, but actually two such creatures.
For South Georgia February was one of the busiest months in the 2009/10 tourist season with sixteen cruise ships and six yachts visiting the island.