Bond suggested for Ice expeditions

Press, 21 January 1987, Page 4

Bond suggested for Ice expeditions

Private expeditions to Antarctica should have to post a bond before they go, said a leading United States Antarctic official in Christchurch last evening. Dr Peter Wilkniss, director of polar programmes for the United States National Science Foundation, told a public meeting that private groups caused American authorities on the Ice “a real headache.” The United States was the only country with bases on the Ice which could provide a wideranging search and rescue service, he said.

“We are required to stand by to help these people and it really disrupts our programme.” Dr Wilkniss, who spoke about American research plans in the Antarctic to the year 2000, said that the number of private groups which went to the Ice would increase in future. They would include tourists and those on expeditions. He said that the United States had a policy that the Antarctic was an open continent and access to it should not be restricted. However, United States officials hoped that priv-

ate groups which visited the Ice could leave safely without American help. Dr Wilkniss said that an authority should be set up to deal with groups which planned to go to the Ice. The private groups should have to post a bond with it, have insurance, and prove they had the knowledge to cope with Antarctica. Scientists were also worried that their studies would be interrupted if more tourists visited the Ice. “Pristine conditions” were needed for some research, Dr Wilkniss said.