Bases visited by Greenpeace

Press, 24 February 1987, Page 33

Bases visited by Greenpeace

By

STEPHEN KNIGHT

PA . Victoria Land Crew of the environmental protest vessel Greenpeace are visiting bases in the Antarctic on their way back to New Zealand.

A spokeswoman, Dr Maj De Poorter, said the object was to make a preliminary assessment .of the environmental impact of the bases. Bases visited so far were the large Italian overwintering base and smaller German summer base at Terra Nova Bay, and an abandoned base which was jointly run by the United States and New Zealand at Cape Hallett

All three are In Victoria Land. The crew Is returning after building a base on Ross Island. Dr .De Poorter said the two bases at Terra Nova Bay were “over all, not too bad.”

Neither base was staffed when visited, ai-

though the - Italian chartered vessel Finn Polaris had left the area two days before the Greenpeace arrived. Dr De Poorter said a proper assessment could be done only by observing the bases when staffed. The Cape Hallett base is being dismantled, and Dr De Poorter said this appeared to be being done in an orderly way. The station was closed in 1973. It is in the centre of a penguin colony. The crew wanted to visit the Russian base Leningradskaya a little further north but sea Ice made the effort too risky. Part of the Greenpeace campaign is to draw attention to what the organisation sees as questionable environmental practices of some countries with bases in Antarctica. The Italians gave ice reports to aid the Greenpeace visit.