Breaking the ice: the introduction of biofouling organisms to Antarctica on vessel hulls

1.Few reports exist that describe marine non-native species in the Southern Ocean and near-shore waters around the Antarctic continent. Nevertheless, Antarctica's isolated marine communities, which show high levels of endemism, may be vulnerable to invasion by anthropogenically introduced species from outside Antarctica via vessel hull biofouling. 2.Hull surveys of the British Antarctic Survey's RRS James Clark Ross were undertaken between 2007 and 2014 at Rothera Research Station on the Antarctic Peninsula (Lat. 67°34'S; Long. 68°07'W) to investigate levels of biofouling. In each case, following transit through scouring sea-ice, over 99% of the vessel hull was free of macroscopic fouling communities. However, in some surveys microbial/algal biofilms, balanomorph barnacles and live individuals of the cosmopolitan pelagic barnacle, Conchoderma auritum were found in the vicinity of intake ports, demonstrating the potential for non-native species to be transported to Antarctica on vessel hulls. 3.Increasing ship traffic volumes and declining duration of sea ice in waters to the north and west of the Antarctic Peninsula mean the region may be at increased risk of non-native species introductions. Locations at particular risk may include the waters around popular visitor sites, such as Goudier Island, Neko Harbour, Whalers Bay, Cuverville Island and Half Moon Island, and around northern peninsula research stations. 4.Simple and cost-effective mitigation measures, such as intentionally moving transiting ships briefly through available offshore sea ice to scour off accessible biofouling communities, may substantially reduce hull-borne propagule pressure to the region. Better quantification of the risk of marine non-native species introductions posed by vessel hulls to both Arctic and Antarctic environments, as sea ice patterns and shipping traffic volumes change, will inform the development of appropriate regional and international management responses

Assessing the environmental impacts of construction in Antarctica

[Excerpt] Introduction: The origin of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was in 1969, as part of the US National Environmental Policy Act which imposed the obligation of all federal agencies to evaluate the potential impacts of activities on the environment (Ortolano and Shepherd, 1995). Its emergence coincided with the recognition of the fact that human activities could lead to changes in the natural setting (Morgan, 2012). The EIA is a procedure to identify, predict, investigate, evaluate and mitigate impacts from activities that are likely to have substantial effects on the environment. The evaluation must happen during the design and planning phase and can be done in different approaches such as interaction matrices, prediction of impacts, investigation and decision-making by government agencies (Toro et al., 2013). Recognized and used by many countries, the EIA methods are based on systematic environmental studies, in addition to relying on the support of a public consultation to assess project execution (Jay et al., 2007). The EIA have contributed to monitoring the development of environmental protection projects, the implementation of environmental laws and mainly as an instrument that assists decision-making in several administrative spheres (Morgan, 2012). [...]The authors gratefully acknowledge support received from the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq) and Programa Antartico Brasileiro (PROANTAR)