Experts urged to find way of preventing Antarctic disaster

Antarctica's Lemaire Channel. File photo / Roger Hoar

The Foreign Affairs Minister has urged maritime experts meeting in Wellington to recommend ways of preventing a tourist boat disaster from ever happening in Antarctica.

About 80 maritime experts and international delegates are attending the Antarctic Treaty Meeting of Experts, which will look at issues including tourism in Antarctica.

Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully said Antarctic cruises were proving popular and some tourism operators were sending unsuitably large ships to the Southern Ocean.

"Some carry up to 5000 people, and even with the best efforts of all concerned, it is hard to see how that number of people could be rescued if an emergency occurred.

"The environmental impact from a vessel spilling fuel after going aground or sinking is also unthinkable," Mr McCully said.

He said the Government had legislation before Parliament to make tourism operators liable for clean-up costs if they cause an environmental disaster.

"However preventing a tourist vessel disaster from ever occurring there remains paramount, and I urge participants at this week's meeting to come up with workable recommendations to ensure that is the case," Mr McCully said.

"The sinking of the tourist vessel Explorer off the Antarctic Peninsula in 2007 was a wake-up call, but it is not an isolated incident. Four vessels have gone aground on the continent in the last three years, and the fact that nobody lost their life in those incidents owes more to good luck than good management," he said.

The meeting runs until Friday and Maritime New Zealand (MNZ) director Catherine Taylor said it was encouraging to see so many experts here to discuss the issue.

The meeting would look at the environmental impacts of tourist shipping in the region and contingency plans for search and rescue and oil spill response.

"As a country that borders the Southern Ocean with responsibility for a large search and rescue region in the Antarctic, New Zealand is acutely aware of the risks and challenges that we would face trying to assist a shipping casualty in the Southern Ocean," Ms Taylor said.

"MNZ takes a strong interest in the Antarctic and is committed to working with our international partners to ensure the best environmental protection possible is in place.

"The Antarctic also poses many logistical issues for search and rescue or oil spill response personnel, which is why we are working together to ensure we have the most practical contingency plans in place for emergencies in the region."

MNZ supported improving the links between the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting and the International Maritime Organisation in order to ensure that protective measures were applied to all shipping in the region, Ms Taylor said.

"New Zealand is a gateway to the Antarctic and we are committed to reducing the risks posed by tourist vessel traffic to the region. We are pleased to be part of this important meeting and look forward to seeing some real progress being made in the ongoing protection of the region."

Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully

- NZPA with NZHERALD STAFF