New Zealand: 125 pilot whales die on beaches

NDTV, Associated Press, Monday December 28, 2009, Coromandel peninsula, New Zealand

Some 125 pilot whales died in New Zealand after getting stranded on the beach over the weekend, but vacationers and conservation workers on Sunday managed to coax 43 others back out to sea.

Rescuers monitored the survivors as they swam away from Colville Beach on North Island's Coromandel peninsula, and by Monday morning they were reported well out to sea.

Department of Conservation workers and hundreds of volunteers helped re-float the 43 whales at high tide. The volunteers covered the stranded mammals in sheets and kept them wet through the day.

"We've been here probably about three and a half, four hours and we've been just listening to instructions and yeah, trying to keep them as wet as possible and comfortable," volunteer Deanna Pandy told New Zealand television.

Conservation officials said one of the whales may have been sick, or their sonar may have led them into the shallow harbour and they couldn't find their way out again.

On Monday, more than 20 whales were buried by local Coromandel Maori. Meanwhile on South Island, 105 long-finned pilot whales that stranded died on Saturday, conservation officials said on Monday.

Officials said they were discovered by a tourist plane pilot and only 30 were alive when conservation workers arrived. Because the site is part of a nature reserve, the 105 whale carcasses were left to decompose where they stranded, officials said.

Large numbers of whales become stranded on New Zealand's beaches each summer as they pass by on their way to breeding grounds from Antarctic waters. Scientists so far have been unable to explain why whales become stranded.

Antarctic nations plan tough new shipping controls

The Jakarta Post, The Associated Press, Wellington | Sat, 12/12/2009 1:53 PM

Countries that manage Antarctica plan to impose tough new controls on ships visiting the southern oceans and the fuels they use to reduce the threat of human and environmental disasters posed by increasing numbers of tourists, officials said Saturday.

The new code will reduce the number of ships carrying tourists into the region by requiring that all vessels have hulls strengthened to withstand ice. Officials and ship operators said a ban on heavy fuel oil will effectively shut out big cruise ships.

Experts from the signatories to the Antarctic Treaty, the world's main tool for managing the continent,and the International Maritime Organization discussed plans to impose a mandatory Polar Code to control all shipping in the region at a meeting in the New Zealand capital, Wellington.

The safeguards are seen as necessary to limit accidents in the region, where blinding sleet, fog, high winds and treacherous seas pose major dangers for ships and huge problems for rescuers located thousands of miles (kilometers) from remote Antarctic waters.

The code will cover vessel design - including hulls strengthened to withstand sea ice - a range of safety equipment, ship operations and crew training for ice navigation, meeting chairman and New Zealand Antarctic policy specialist Trevor Hughes said.

The nearly completed Polar Code is expected to be in place by 2013, he said. Once approved, it would operate on a voluntary basis until it is ratified by treaty states and becomes legally binding.

While existing rules bar tourists or tour operators from leaving anything behind - like garbage or human waste - and require protection of animal breeding grounds, there are no formal codes on the kind of vessels that can use the waters or the kinds of fuel and other oil products they can carry.

In March, the International Maritime organization, the United Nations' shipping agency, is to ratify a ban on the carriage or use of heavy fuel oil in Antarctica. It is to come into effect in 2011.

The moves follow a huge growth in tourist traffic as people flock to see the world's last great wilderness.

Annual tourist numbers have grown fom about 10,000 a decade ago to 45,000 last year. Tourists can pay between $3,000 and $24,000 for a two-week trip. Some travel on ships carrying up to 3,000 passengers that also take many tons of heavy fuel oil, chemicals and garbage that can pollute the region.

Nathan Russ, operations manager of Antarctic eco-tourism company Heritage Expeditions, said the proposed heavy fuel ban "will most likely regulate the biggest cruise ships out of Antarctic operations" because of the costs involved in switching to lighter fuel.

Related Article:

The 16 Ships Create As Much Pollution As All Cars in The World

Rare iceberg spotted off island south of Australia

Google/AP

In this Nov. 5, 2009, photo provided by the Australian Antarctic Division, a large iceberg spotted off Macquarie Island, about 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) southeast of Australia, mid-way between Antarctica and Australia. It is a rare sight in waters so far north, Australian scientists said Thursday, Nov. 12, 2009. (AP Photo/Australian Antarctic Division, Murray Potter)

SYDNEY — A large iceberg was spotted off an island about halfway between Antarctica and Australia, a rare sight in waters so far north, Australian scientists said Thursday.

Australian Antarctic Division researchers working on Macquarie Island, about 930 miles (1,500 kilometers) southeast of Tasmania, first saw the iceberg last Thursday about 5 miles (8 kilometers) off the northwest coast of the island.

The iceberg, about 160 feet (50 meters) high and 1,640 feet (500 meters) long, is probably part of one of several larger icebergs that broke off Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf between 2000 and 2002, Australian Antarctic Division glaciologist Neal Young said.

Several icebergs have been drifting slowly northward with the ocean current toward the island over the past year, but it is uncommon for them to move so far into warmer northern waters, he said.

The scientists believe the iceberg will break up and melt rapidly as it continues its journey north. Before it melts, however, it could present a danger to ships navigating the region, Young said.

In 2000, several massive icebergs broke off from Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf and the Ronne Ice Shelf. The first iceberg was about 190 miles (300 kilometers) long and 23 miles (37 kilometers) wide. Those icebergs are now drifting away from Antarctica.

Icebergs are formed as the ice shelf develops. Snow falls on the ice sheet and forms more ice, which flows to the edges, onto the floating ice shelves. Eventually, pieces around the edge break off.

Related Article:

Over 100 icebergs drifting to N.Zealand: official

Greenland ice loss accelerating: study

An iceberg floats in a fjord near the town of Kulusuk in eastern Greenland August 2, 2009. (REUTERS/Bob Strong)