Scott Base and McMurdo Station - Antarctic Treaty Secretariat

More documents

Recommendations

Info

8. TOURIST ACTIVITIES ON ROSS ISLANDThe presence of the Australian observer team at Ross Island coincided with a visit to McMurdo Station and ScottBase by passengers from the tourist vessel Kapitan Khlebnikov. This vessel was operated by Quark Expeditions ofthe United States.The Quark Expeditions visit took place on 25 January 2005 as part of a voyage which had taken in Cape Adare,Cape Royds, and the dry valleys. The tourist expedition was carrying 98 passengers from the United States,Australia, France, Germany and Italy. The largest contingent (27 passengers) was from Australia. The passengergroup comprised people from teenage to elderly. One passenger with a disability was observed to requireassistance in moving about the station.Before tourists were landed at the stations the Australian observer team was privileged to be included in aplanning meeting at McMurdo Station between representatives of Quark Expeditions (including the companyrepresentative and expedition leader), personnel from McMurdo Station (including representatives of theNational Science Foundation) and representatives of Scott Base (including the base manager).It was agreed that the passengers would be flown into the station by the ship’s helicopter from the tour ship andlanded at McMurdo Station. At the commencement of operations the Kapitan Khlebnikov was stationary in theturning basin at the southern end of the icebreaker channel. After landing and being marshalled on the foreshorebelow the station the passengers were taken in groups of 16 to visit the Crary Science Laboratories, the NationalScience Foundation headquarters, the station store, the chapel, Observation Hill and Hut Point. Refreshments wereprovided by the station. Each group was escorted by two volunteer McMurdo guides and one Quark staff member.After completion of the visit to McMurdo Station the tourists were driven to Scott Base where similar tours wereprovided by New Zealand Antarctic Programme volunteers. The visitors were escorted through Scott Base,provided with refreshments and taken to the base shop to purchase souvenirs. On completion of the visit thetourists were returned in the ship’s helicopters to Kapitan Khlebnikov which by then had moved further northin the channel towards open water.The total time ashore at the stations was about 6 hours. The tourists appeared to be made welcome by bothstations and their presence did not appear to be significantly disruptive to station operations. The tourists wereobserved to comply with instructions given to them.One of the passengers raised with the Australian observer team a concern about the expedition’s compliance withquarantine procedures for passengers landing ashore from the vessel after coming from New Zealand. Theobligations imposed on tour operators were subsequently explained and the passenger was satisfied that thoserequirements had been satisfied.
9. ACKNOWLEDGMENTSThe Australian observer team gratefully acknowledges the assistance provided by Antarctic program staff on andoff the ice in supporting the inspection at a time of considerable activity at the stations. That we were able toachieve so much in four days on the ice is due to their generosity in making available to us themselves and theirstaff to patiently answer our questions, and their logistic resources to take us where we needed to go. In particularwe had essential support from:McMurdo StationBrian Stone, NSF RepresentativeDr Julie PalaisDr Vladimir PapitashviliNadene KennedyTerry MeltonAlice DoyleJordan DickensGrace LogstonMark FurnishDave WeberGlen GrantScott BaseJulian Tangaere, Base ManagerGraeme TodGlenn PowellPeter de JouxEmile BomerRobert TurnerUS National Science FoundationDr Karl Erb, DirectorErick ChiangArthur BrownAntarctica New ZealandMr Lou Sanson, Chief Executive OfficerMichelle JonesDr Neil GilbertPaul WoodgateKevin Leech
Page 1: Presentaion to the NSF Representati
Page 4 and 5: Photography136824 579101 Building 6
Page 6 and 7: 1. INTRODUCTIONArticle VII of the A
Page 8 and 9: 3. SCOTT BASE (NEW ZEALAND)3.1 GENE
Page 10 and 11: Compliance with the Protocol (Artic
Page 13 and 14: Storage of waste (Article 6)All was
Page 15 and 16: Science undertaken at Scott BaseThe
Page 17 and 18: 4. MCMURDO STATION (UNITED STATES O
Page 19 and 20: Prohibition of mineral resource act
Page 21 and 22: Raytheon Polar Services Company emp
Page 23 and 24: Historic Sites and Monuments (Artic
Page 25 and 26: From the transition zone the fuel i
Page 27 and 28: 6. RV NATHANIAL B PALMER (UNITED ST
Page 29: During the visit to Scott Base the

Scott Base and McMurdo Station - Antarctic Treaty Secretariat

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?