The Antarctic Wildlife Research Fund (AWR) issued this week its first call for proposals, inviting applications from scientific researchers who can aid in determining the impact of the krill fishing industry on the Antarctic marine ecosystem. Such research will serve to ensure ecosystem protection, while improving the management basis for the fishery.
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 Falkland Islands historic link as the gateway for British Antarctic exploration was acknowledged this week with the dedication in Stanley's Dockyard Point of the southern component of a unique memorial to the 28 men and one woman of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), and before that the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS) who have perished in the Antarctic since the establishment by the British Government of the first permanent research base there in 1944.
The International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) and two member operators, Oceanwide Expeditions and Heritage Expeditions, took part in a live Search and Rescue (SAR) Exercise in collaboration with Maritime New Zealand’s Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ) on Feb. 12.
A two-part sculpture dedicated to Britons who lost their lives in service of science in Antarctica will be unveiled by a Watford man. Brian Dorsett-Bailey, 75, will officially reveal one of the monuments at Stanley in the Falkland Islands in tribute to the 29 people who have died in British Antarctic Territory, reports the Watford Observer.
China is preparing to mark 30 years of polar expeditions, when on 20 February 1985 opened its first permanent research station in Antarctica, The Great Wall on King George Island. Since then China has continued to advance and is now planning the fifth permanent station.
An Australian fishing vessel that was stranded in Antarctic ice for a week with a damaged propeller is expected to make its way to New Zealand under its own power.The 63-metre Antarctic Chieftain longliner damaged its propeller after hitting an iceberg and was stranded about 1,500 kilometres north-east of McMurdo Sound with 26 people on board.
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.