Eco-tourism in Earth's southernmost continent has boomed in the last decade; impacts are uncertain. Photo: A. Shaik
A booming tourism industry may harm Earth’s southernmost continent
By Asra Shaik
Spring 2010
No cell phone. No Internet. Almost no human contact.
Just gargantuan mountains, serene glaciers and undulating waters.
Antarctica offers an experience unlike anywhere else on Earth. Eco-tourism in the southernmost continent has boomed in the last decade.
The number of tourists visiting Antarctica has increased seven-fold since 1992, according to statistics compiled by the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators, a self-regulating organization that controls much of the continent’s tourism.
The region now hosts more than 45,000 tourists a year. Ship cruises, small boat landings ashore and small boat cruises make up the majority of Antarctic tourism according to statistics compiled by the association.
Trips cost upwards of $5,000 and may include cross-country skiing, climbing and kayaking.
But these trips aren’t without consequence. Antarctica, arguably the planet’s last great wilderness, may be vulnerable to its visitors’ impacts.
“There haven’t been any studies to date that shows that tourism has an impact on the environment, but that’s a long-term, ongoing debate,” said Steve Wellmeier, executive director of the tour operators association.
Concern over eco-tourism on the continent spiked after a small cruise ship sank in 2007. The Liberian MS Explorer left a diesel stain three miles wide in the Antarctic waters.
Ship groundings result in hull damage and oil spills, which may impact plants and animals, said Ricardo Roura in an e-mail. Roura is a senior adviser for the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition, an advocacy organization that promotes conservation and environmental standards for Antarctica.
Two ships ran aground and spilled marine gas oil in 2008, according to reports from the 2009 Antarctic Treaty System meeting in Baltimore, M.D.
Marine gas oil is commonly using in small passenger ships in the Antarctic tourism industry, Wellmeimer said. It’s a light fuel that, unlike heavy fuels, tends to evaporate and break apart quickly.
It’s also better for the environment, he said.
Beginning in 2011, ships fueled by heavier oil grades will not be allowed to sail Antarctic waters, according to a new policy by the International Maritime Organization, an agency that regulates vessels in the Southern Ocean.
A group of tourists snap pictures of Adelie penguins at Madder Cliffs in Antarctica. Photo: A. Shaik.
But ship accidents aren’t the only concern.
Everyday activities can lead to the “wear and tear” on the continent, short- or long-term stress to wildlife, and chronic, low-level pollution, Roura said.
While no studies show that tourism impacts the Antarctic environment, statistics are not kept for passengers littering or disobeying tour operators’ rules. As a result, tourists’ true impacts may not be captured, according to the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition.
“Tourism effects may be direct, indirect, and cumulative, and may result from the normal conduct of the activity,” Roura said.
Tourism to the southern continent requires planes and ships and consumes resources, but Antarctic tourism must be put into context in terms of tourism as a whole, Wellmeier said. For example, more than 25 million tourists visit the Caribbean every year, he said.
No country owns Antarctica, but it’s regulated by a treaty system comprising 48 countries such as Argentina, Chile, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The Antarctica Treaty System was established in 1959 to preserve the continent’s environment, ban military activity and establish it as a scientific preserve.
In 2009, countries with Antarctic interests met in Baltimore, Md. for a two-week conference that resulted in a pact to limit the size of cruise ships that land on the continent to fewer than 500 passengers and the number of people who can be on the shore at any one time to 100.
Antarctica, which is ninth on the New York Times list of “31 places to go in 2010,” has one more season without regulations for fewer passengers. Many of these rules take effect in 2011.
The regulations aim to minimize passengers’ environmental impacts by imposing strict regulations and bio-safety protocols such as boot-cleaning to limit the spread of foreign plants and pathogens.
“It is fair to say that there may be some minor impact from the actual presence of these vessels: noise pollution, disturbance, ship strike to whales; however, there are also very strict instructions to ship operators about prevention of pollution and other general behavior,” Jabour said.
“Additional regulation such as ships not allowed to discharge waste within 12 nautical miles of the ice edge” has kept the impact of ship cruises on marine life minimal, she said.
Industry organizations argue there are benefits to tourism on the continent.
Not only does it bring environmental awareness, it also creates advocates for Antarctica and environmentally conscious behavior in general, according to the tour operators association’s Web site.
“We do like to believe that we create Antarctic ambassadors for conservation and preservation issues. Over the past six years, IAATO members and their passengers have donated more than $10 million to Antarctica-related causes and preservation and conservation organizations,” Wellmeier said.
Passengers on a Zodiac boat tour of the Madder Cliffs head back to the OCean Nova cruise ship at Neko Harbour. Photo: A. Shaik
The tour operators association also helps scientific pursuits on the continent, by providing first-hand reports of high mortality and anomalous events on the continent much more quickly than scientists would be able to because many landing sites are far from scientific facilities, Wellmeier said.
The association compiles the statistics used by Oceanites, an independent survey team in Washington D.C. that studies penguin populations in various sites in Antarctica.
Although there are no studies that prove that tourism makes an impact, the potential impact of tourists cannot be ignored, according to the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition. Because the statistics for when passengers litter or disobey tour operator’s rules are not kept, the potential impact may not be captured.
Not everyone abides by rules that are set by tour operators, said Ashleigh Winkelmann, a Michigan State University student who went on the study abroad trip.
One of the tour association’s rules is that passengers do not approach animals at a distance closer than 5 meters, about 15 feet, but a passenger doesn’t have to move away from an animal that approaches him on its own accord.
“While we were on Half Moon Island, a lady crawled to about a foot away from egg-rearing penguins to take pictures,” Winkelmann said.
Other rules include not littering and biosafety protocols to limit tourist impact on the continent.
In the case of Half Moon Island, a staff member noticed that the lady was too close and he told her she needed to give the penguins more room for safety, Winkelmann said.
Amber Bengtson, another Michigan State University student who went on the study abroad trip, observed tourists breaking the rules many times.
“I observed a lady not paying attention to where she was walking once,” Bengtson said. “She almost walked straight into a Weddell seal laying on the beach.” ý
Asra Shaik is a third-year undergraduate student in physiology and economics who attended a study abroad trip to Antarctica. She can be reached at asrashaik@gmail.com.