Ecotourism Project Update

We have split up into three different groups in order to collect data (on-board education, boot-washing and vacuuming, and wildlife disturbance).  All students in the ecotourism group will be conducting about 2-3 interviews each.  In these interviews, we are asking the following questions:

1. Background Information

2. What inspired you to travel to Antarctica?

3. Prioritize the following four IAATO Tourist Guidelines based on what you believe is most important when traveling to and within Antarctica:

• On-board education programs;
• Bag cleaning/vacuuming;
• Boot washing;
• Minimizing wildlife disturbance by maintaining an appropriate distance
• 1=most important; 4=least important

4. Explain your reasoning or the prioritization that you chose.

5. Did you read the Antarctic Treaty prior to traveling to Antarctica?

6. Did you read the IAATO Tourist Guidelines prior to traveling to Antarctica?

7. In your opinion, what impact have you had on Antarctica?

8. What impact has Antarctica had on you?

9. Do you believe that climate change is a real issue? If yes, what do you believe is/are the leading cause(s) of climate change?

I chose to be on the on-board education group because I am interested to see how engaged passengers are in the educational programming and what emphasis is put on conservation in these lectures.  So far, the staff lecturers have only referenced human environmental impacts in quick comments such as, "I won't let someone cuddle a penguin" or "take only photos, leave only footsteps".  I am interested to see if they include more conservation programming on the later end of the trip when they feel less pressure to leave us with a positive picture before going on excursions.

Signs of human life!

Today we visited the British base, Port Lockeroy. Here they had a museum that basically consisted of three restored rooms set up to look like the originals.  They also had a gift shop and a postman!  I was able to send a few postcards home but apparently they can take 3-6 months so I do not expect them to reach anyone too soon.  The mail goes from Port Lockeroy to Argentina to the UK and is then entered into the Royal mail service.  The base currently has four inhabitants and also has a large colony of Gentoo penguins living underneath and around the base buildings.  The port’s penguin colony had two chicks that hatched while we were there! We were able to learn a lot about the original settlers and also the timeline of inhabitants at the British base.

It was really windy today so the zodiac rides were fun but a little more perilous than before.  After exploring the base, we hopped in a zodiac that brought us around the corner to another penguin colony on Jougla Point.  This colony of Gentoos was very special because there were blue-eyed shag nests sprinkled in with the penguin nests.   The shag nests were made mostly from feathers, sticks and softer grass while the penguin nests are made of little stones.  You can occasionally see a penguin steal stones from another penguin's nest and get away with it.

If you walked in the other direction you came across….wait for it…a Wedell seal!  I had been waiting for us to see a seal but they’ve all been so far in the distance.  This one was no more than 10 yards from us.  The seal was undisturbed by the people that kept walking back and forth to the side of him (or her).  I really had no idea how fat seals could be but this one was HUGE.  Finally, we unfortunately saw a dead penguin that was getting scavenged by a shag.  The naturalist explained that the penguin could have died from injury infection, old age, or more likely, a disease.  In addition, there were whale bones on the shore within the penguin colony.

I also stood in the bridge for awhile.  The bridge is where the captain or first-mate steers the ship. You have to be silent and sit in a specific area as to not disturb the crew.  It is incredible how they maneuver the ship through narrow passages and around icebergs of all different sizes.  So far this has been an incredible experience.  I am truly speechless when I take a walk around the upper decks with tea warming my frozen hands.  I am so lucky to have been able to have this experience and have never felt so utterly grateful that I ended up doing this.  I really understand how people fall in love with this place and keep coming back.  

Penguins!

We went on our first excursions today!  In the morning we were brought in the zodiacs to Pleneau island.  On Pleneau we saw Gentoo penguin colonies, mink whales in the harbor, a crab eater seal and two wedels in the distance.  Passengers wandered all around the site and, for the most part, respected the IAATO guidelines that Chad had explained.  In the afternoon we traveled to Booth Island where we saw all three species of bush penguins (Adelie, Chinstrap, and Gentoo) and even a chick!  The staff had observed how we had tramped everywhere in the first site so made a point to put trail markers in order to keep us from getting too close or making unnecessary tracks in the snow.  A few of us accompanied one of the staff members as she made the path up to the high point for others to follow.  When we reached the top, gulls began to squawk and swarmed around our heads.  The staff member, the naturalist for the ship, explained that there must be a nest nearby and that we should back up and they would calm down.  This is the site where I first recognized that certain passengers were not abiding by the IAATO guidelines.  One family in particular continuously got a little too close and were yelling to their other family members across the hill as they were sitting right next to penguins.  The children of the family would sit right in the middle of penguin highways, forcing the penguins to either start making another highway or turn back.  This definitely caused added stress for the penguins, and building new highways would require the penguins to use additional energy.  I was directly observing our human influence on the Antarctic ecosystem. 

            After the excursions my project group met up to discuss and reflect on the passenger behaviors and staff enforcement thus far.  Many of us had seen similar disregard for the guidelines but could not blame the staff because they cannot be everywhere at once.  We did come up with a recommendation of a “why” method of teaching.  We also discussed cultural differences and language barriers as potential issues for passengers.  It is possible that conservation and environmentalism is not as high of a priority in certain cultures as in U.S. and Canadian culture. As students, we are very biased as well because we have been learning about human impact on Antarctica for an entire semester and are very educated about IAATO guidelines even before the mandatory lecture.  We also determined that it is our responsibility as knowledgeable ambassadors of Antarctica to hold other passengers accountable when the staff is not able to.

            The staff mentioned that "you come for the wildlife and stay for the ice".  I'm starting to see what they mean.  The glaciers and icebergs are so massive, unique and beautiful.

Life on the Sea

Today we had two mandatory lectures, IAATO guidelines and Zodiac Protocols. IAATO is the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators and has established various guidelines to regulate Antarctic travel and reduce the potential impacts of tourism.  The Zodiacs are the black inflated small boats that bring us to shore for excursions.  The staff took attendance at each lecture to make sure that every passenger got the information.  The IAATO powerpoint presentation was given to our expedition leader to present to the ship.  It was very thorough and got all the main points across such as maintaining appropriate distance, use soft voices and slow movements around wildlife, wash boots after returning to the ship, and many more.  One thing that was lacking was the “why” for all of the guidelines.  I was left wondering, why is 15 feet the appropriate distance for approaching wildlife?  If someone gets too close, what are the consequences?  What is an example of an instance where someone brought pathogens from one Antarctic island to another to justify this boot-washing rule?  I knew some of these answers because of the fall course and reading assignments but others may not be as educated about polar travel.  I think more details would result in higher compliance because people would understand the consequences of ignoring these guidelines.

After the lectures, they had us vacuum our pockets and bags to make sure that we are not bringing foreign contaminants or species onto the continent.  They had everyone sign a declaration but did not monitor to see how well you did it.  This is one of the things we noted in our project observations.

I was able to chat with one of the Oceanites researchers a bit today.  Oceanites is a nonprofit organization that is most well known for their Antarctic Site Inventory which is a large collection of physical and biological data from 1994 to 2015.  These researchers are surveying the penguin colonies that we visit, counting the number of nests (an indication of population size) and also documenting their habitats.  The researcher explained that they can reconstruct penguin habitats into 3D images that help them study behavior.  They are also looking at colony behavior, specifically trying to determine at what point penguins create a new colony.  She told me about one theory that they make a new colony to avoid predators but if this were true, they would likely huddle in circles to minimize exposed penguins but in reality, their huddling and colonies take all different kinds of shapes.

I am amazed at how much wildlife there is in this southern ocean.  We saw several humpback whales, chinstrap penguins swimming next to our ship, and hundreds of seabirds following us.  It is incredible that penguins can make it this far out!

"Drake Lake" or "Drake Shake"?

I woke up a little seasick because we entered the Drake Passage around midnight.  They advised us to keep one hand "for" the ship to catch ourselves and that was great advice.  The Drake Passage is notorious for huge ship-rocking waves so the crews warned we would either have the "Drake Shake" or get lucky and experience the "Drake Lake".

Passengers attended four lectures today: Antarctica Photography, Albatross: Ocean Wanderers, Antarctic Ecology, and Discovering Antarctica.  All were very informative and reiterated what we had already learned in the online portion of the course.  Flocks of birds have continuously followed the ship since leaving the Beagle Channel.  The ship's wake stirs up the water, bringing wildlife and nutrients to the surface.  It was very cool to see Albatrosses in real life just after the lecture.  It is incredible that they almost never flap their wings but can glide through the air with such speed.

In addition to the lectures, the group doing Module I (ecotourism) met up to discuss our game plan.  We are aiming to look at ecotourism but we were not sure if we should include non-passengers (i.e. the staff and the Oceanites researchers on board).   In the end, we decided to call everyone “visitors” and then would break that term up into students, vacationers, researchers, and staff/crew because all are having an impact on the pristine environment.  After dinner I decided to spend some time up on the deck by myself.  There I spotted the first icebergs!!  Three naps and three delicious meals later, I went to bed with light still coming through my window.