Oil Spill Hazardous To Antarctic Marine Life
August 18th, 2010
As if a monument ending the age of innocence in Antarctica, the badly gashed orange cruise ship hull fleshes out from glacier waters. While perching calmly upon the sunken ship, penguins look at the oil glistening on the surface of the water oblivious to the danger that lurks. Much more of the diesel fuel in gallons unbound in the shipwreck emit the substance gradually after tens of thousands of these have already been cleaned up by the natural process of evaporation.
Indeed, at the last frontier of this planet, time is evolving. Tons of bulldozers, aircraft, ships and amphibious trucks are being dispatched by countries that aim to claim a portion of the Frozen Continent. With nationalistic fanfare, they are building new bases and launching new research projects. The austral summer sees hundreds of well heeled travelers arriving from cruise ships, military planes or supply vessels contracted by specialized travel agencies each week. You’ll get further resources on adventure antarctica tours by visiting there.
The Earth’s final frontier requires no passport so private yachts and polar skiing expeditions are able to bring people into this place with much ease. Legal, political and environmental issues hound like huge icebergs in Antarctica’s uncharted due to so many accidents like with the case of the sunken cruise liner which has been damaging the wildlife in Earth’s final frontier. No laws apply to Antarctica because no one owns it, according to the terms of the Antarctic Treaty.
The year 1961 saw exactly a dozen nations consenting to let go of territorial claims temporarily for at least three decades so that Antarctica can be able to be a haven of peaceful research efforts.Nations holding only observer status, eighteen of them, have consented to abide by the laws after eight more countries have been granted full voting powers since joining the treaty. Meetings are held every two years among treaty nations. Now, with the group’s plan to permit strictly regulated exploitation and exploration of mineral resources, Antarctica will no longer be as mystical as many perceive it to be. But it is only beginning to grapple with such issues as the proliferation of bases, marine and air safety, indemnification, medical and rescue facilities.
Thirty cruises scheduled to call on Palmer brings in about a hundred tourists during the austral summer seasonBeing uncontrolled, many perceive tourism to be beyond control. As the Science Foundation aimed to keep people from disturbing the research process, tourists were banned briefly last year. There was an immediate removal of the ban once prominent Americans asserted their rights to know how exactly their money collected as tax were used. If you need more details on antarctica holiday visit there.
Taking care of the needs of other people in the station is one of the station staff, a medical corpsman manning a small room that can fit up to four dozen patients at a time. It is not built for the task of handling maritime catastrophes. The workers at the station reveal that fair weather alone can inhibit a catastrophe. There were no longer any oars or motors on the open, inflatable rafts found in the sunken sea vessel, shared the workers. Being a very calm day, towing these ashore by mere station work boats is a big possibility.But on the upside, let’s be thankful things did not turn for the worse as it did not overturn or drift into the middle of the seas with the cruel Antarctic weather, aver the workers.
Not wasting any time, the National Science Foundation responded to the oil spill by dispatching navy and civilian pollution control experts to use specialized equipment weighing 52 tons and clean up the mess as much as they can to limit the repercussions of the oil spill disaster.Over two million dollars was what the mission went to. Sent to perform clean up missions are the navies from Chile and Argentina. The middle of March saw the conclusion of the clean up drive but the ship is impossible to be reached and pumped out safely and it will keep pumping out poison as it contains over 63,000 gallons more and the worst case if a winter storm comes and tears the wreckage apart, which means more spills to come. Many experts agree that a big amount would be needed to clean off the wreckage.
The area of the spill teems with wildlife, including penguins, skuas, cormorants, Arctic terns and other birds. Creatures like seals and whales swim through the huge bay. Indirect evidence linking the death of penguins and birds to the spill has been established by most scientists, but then the extent of the damage is yet to be finalized. A special team of 15 researchers from the United States, Argentina and Chile has arrived to begin a comprehensive study on the spill’s environmental impact. Long years will be over before it is completed but there is no sign of a way for damages to be claimed at all.
As American holds no territorial ownership to the place specifically at or surrounding Palmer Station, they are not eligible for any damage compensation and it will only be on the Antarctic Peninsula, countries such as Great Britain, Argentina and Chile that do. It was announced by Chile that during the coming Antarctic Treaty, they will make sure that each nation has to contribute financially whenever an environmental disaster strikes. For cost sharing in clean up of spills and other accidents, agreements must be made, not to mention the conception of an international coordinating office for emergencies and these are currently considered by the Science Foundation.