Antarctic blasting angers group

Press, 12 September 1984, Page 45

Antarctic blasting angers group

PA Wellington The Antarctic Treaty is facing a credibility crisis because its rules on environmental protection are not working, according to the co-ordinator of Greenpeace’s international Antarctic campaign. Mr Roger Wilson, a New Zealander and former national organiser for Friends of the Earth, said that heavy overfishing of Antarctic waters and the prospect of mineral exploitation posed a serious threat to the treaty’s existence. The French Government’s action in building an airstrip on an Adelie penguin colony at their Dumont d’Urville base was the latest

example of treaty nations flouting the rules and weakening the credibility of the treaty, he said. The treaty ws already under attack in the United Nations because of lack of consultation by the 16 treaty nations with the rest of the world. Mr Wilson said that when the treaty was signed in 1959 the main concern was scientific access to the continent. But fishing and whaling and possible exploitation of minerals in the area meant the treaty was inadequate to protect the environment. There had been serious overfishing of at least three species of fin fish, Mr Wil-

son said. Though catches were high in the 19705, these slumped to almost nil in recent years. The Soviet Union caught about 90 per cent of Antarctic fish. Greenpeace was seeking a--10-year moratorium on Antarctic fin fishing to allow stocks to be restored but fishing States had resisted these moves. Krill, tiny crustaceans prolific in Antarctic seas, had now become a major fishery, with an annual catch of 500,000 tonnes. The Soviet Union was the main catcher of krill together with Japan. Mr Wilson said there were many unanswered

questions about krill. It had recently been discovered krill lived to seven or eight years instead of the three or four years thought previously.

It was also known an increase in water temperature of as little as 1 to 1.5 degrees centigrade caused krill to disappear. If krill were overfished, all other animal and- bird species would be affected as krill were a main element of their diet. Greenpeace did not want to see a moratorium on krill fishing, but rather a freeze on the catch totals, he said. Mr Wilson will attend a meeting next week of the Convention for the Con-

servation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources in HobarL The convention had been set up mainly because of the lack of regulation of fishing in the Antarctic seas, he said. The convention, which consisted mainly of Antarctic Treaty nations, has not made progress in getting an agreement. Mr Wilson said the airstrip being built by the French was severely criticised by a committee of eight experts, six of them French. A copy of the report, which recommended the project be. abandoned, was leaked and Greenpeace released photographs of the blasting at the site.

When allegations about the construction were conveyed to other Antarctic treaty nations they were not prepared to investigate. “Instead they asked Greenpeace for proof. That is not our role. We cannot get down there to collect evidence.

“That’s what I mean by a crisis of credibility. Are the Antarctic Treaty partners guardians of the Antarctic environment or are they not?”

Mr Wilson said to the best of his knowledge a French ship would leave Le Havre in October with more construction materials for the airstrip.