Tourism Sector Alert! World-First Footage Shows Antarctic Seafloor at Risk as Ship Anchors Destroy Unique Marine Ecosystem
A latest study, published in Frontiers in Conservation Science, revealed on Monday, June 9, that ship anchors are causing significant damage to the fragile Antarctic seafloor. This action is eventually crushing the unique marine life and leaving long-lasting scars.
According to scientists from New Zealand, Canada, and the United States, video footage from 36 Antarctic Peninsula and South Georgia Island sites revealed that ship anchoring leaves areas almost lifeless, with crushed sponges and scarred seafloor, while surrounding undisturbed zones remain biodiverse.
Sally Watson, a marine geophysicist at New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research and the study's co-author said, "Anchoring impacts are understudied and underestimated globally. It's so important to recognize and mitigate the impacts across all industries and limit planned anchoring."
Using underwater cameras, the researchers discovered that the problem is worsening as shrinking sea ice makes more of Antarctica available for cruise, research, fishing, and private vessels, adding that anchor damage is almost entirely unregulated in Antarctica, despite strict conservation rules for other activities.
During the 2022-2023 Antarctic summer, at least 195 ships anchored in Antarctic seas, most certainly underestimating the total number, according to the study.
In disturbed regions, footage showed crushed ancient sponges and a paucity of benthic creatures, whereas undisturbed places were rich in unusual, slow-growing species that were particularly vulnerable to such impacts.
While research on anchor impacts is expanding in tropical reefs, Watson identified a significant knowledge gap in Antarctica. Each vessel that anchors in 30-40 meters of water might disturb at least 1,600 meters of seafloor, not counting further damage from chains dragging if ships move, she said.
Scientists warn that recovery from seafloor damage in Antarctica might take decades, although similar damage in warmer places has persisted for over ten years.
Matthew Mulrennan, who founded the California-based ocean exploration and conservation nonprofit KOLOSSAL, and the study's lead author said that the loss of sponges and other seafloor life disturbs essential ecological services including water filtration, carbon storage, and habitat provision, jeopardizing the broader Antarctic food chain, which includes species such as penguins and seals that attract tourists.
Mulrennan concluded, "Anchoring is likely the most overlooked ocean conservation issue in terms of global seafloor disruption; it is on par with the damages from bottom trawling."
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International Business Times
6 hours ago
- International Business Times
Tourism Sector Alert! World-First Footage Shows Antarctic Seafloor at Risk as Ship Anchors Destroy Unique Marine Ecosystem
A latest study, published in Frontiers in Conservation Science, revealed on Monday, June 9, that ship anchors are causing significant damage to the fragile Antarctic seafloor. This action is eventually crushing the unique marine life and leaving long-lasting scars. According to scientists from New Zealand, Canada, and the United States, video footage from 36 Antarctic Peninsula and South Georgia Island sites revealed that ship anchoring leaves areas almost lifeless, with crushed sponges and scarred seafloor, while surrounding undisturbed zones remain biodiverse. Sally Watson, a marine geophysicist at New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research and the study's co-author said, "Anchoring impacts are understudied and underestimated globally. It's so important to recognize and mitigate the impacts across all industries and limit planned anchoring." Using underwater cameras, the researchers discovered that the problem is worsening as shrinking sea ice makes more of Antarctica available for cruise, research, fishing, and private vessels, adding that anchor damage is almost entirely unregulated in Antarctica, despite strict conservation rules for other activities. During the 2022-2023 Antarctic summer, at least 195 ships anchored in Antarctic seas, most certainly underestimating the total number, according to the study. In disturbed regions, footage showed crushed ancient sponges and a paucity of benthic creatures, whereas undisturbed places were rich in unusual, slow-growing species that were particularly vulnerable to such impacts. While research on anchor impacts is expanding in tropical reefs, Watson identified a significant knowledge gap in Antarctica. Each vessel that anchors in 30-40 meters of water might disturb at least 1,600 meters of seafloor, not counting further damage from chains dragging if ships move, she said. Scientists warn that recovery from seafloor damage in Antarctica might take decades, although similar damage in warmer places has persisted for over ten years. Matthew Mulrennan, who founded the California-based ocean exploration and conservation nonprofit KOLOSSAL, and the study's lead author said that the loss of sponges and other seafloor life disturbs essential ecological services including water filtration, carbon storage, and habitat provision, jeopardizing the broader Antarctic food chain, which includes species such as penguins and seals that attract tourists. Mulrennan concluded, "Anchoring is likely the most overlooked ocean conservation issue in terms of global seafloor disruption; it is on par with the damages from bottom trawling."
AsiaOne
4 days ago
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Japan's ispace fails again at lunar touchdown with Resilience lander , Asia News
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Straits Times
4 days ago
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TOKYO - Japanese company ispace said its uncrewed moon lander likely crashed onto the moon's surface during its lunar touchdown attempt on Friday, marking another failure two years after its unsuccessful inaugural mission. Tokyo-based ispace had hoped to join U.S. firms Intuitive Machines and Firefly Aerospace as companies that have accomplished commercial landings amid a global race for the moon which includes state-run missions from China and India. A successful mission would have made ispace the first company outside the U.S. to achieve a moon landing. Resilience, ispace's second lunar lander, could not decelerate fast enough as it approached the moon, and the company has not been able to communicate with the spacecraft after a likely hard landing, ispace said in a statement. The company's live-stream of the attempted landing showed Resilience's flight data was lost less than two minutes before the planned touchdown time earlier on Friday. The lander had targeted Mare Frigoris, a basaltic plain about 900 km (560 miles) from the moon's north pole, and was on an hour-long descent from lunar orbit. A room of more than 500 ispace employees, shareholders, sponsors and government officials abruptly grew silent during a public viewing event at mission partner Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp in the wee hours in Tokyo. Shares of ispace were untraded, overwhelmed by sell orders, and looked set to close at the daily limit-low, which would mark a 29% fall. As of the close of Thursday, ispace had a market capitalisation of more than 110 billion yen ($766 million). In 2023, ispace's first lander crashed into the moon's surface due to inaccurate recognition of its altitude. Software remedies have been implemented, while the hardware design is mostly unchanged in Resilience, the company has said. Resilience was carrying a four-wheeled rover built by ispace's Luxembourg subsidiary and five external payloads worth a total of $16 million, including scientific instruments from Japanese firms and a Taiwanese university. If the landing had been successful, the 2.3-metre-high lander and the microwave-sized rover would have begun 14 days of planned exploration activities, including capturing images of regolith, the moon's fine-grained surface material, on a contract with U.S. space agency NASA. Resilience in January shared a SpaceX rocket launch with Firefly's Blue Ghost lander, which took a faster trajectory to the moon and touched down successfully in March. Intuitive Machines, which last year marked the world's first touchdown of a commercial lunar lander, made its second attempt in March but the lander Athena ended up on its side, just as in the first mission. Japan last year became the world's fifth country to achieve a soft lunar landing after the former Soviet Union, the United States, China and India, when the national Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency achieved the touchdown of its SLIM lander, although in a toppled position. Despite President Donald Trump's proposed changes to the U.S. space policy, Japan remains committed to the American-led Artemis moon program, pledging the involvement of Japanese astronauts and technologies for future lunar missions. Including a third one in 2027 as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services for the Artemis program, ispace plans seven more missions in the U.S. and Japan through 2029 to capture increasing demands for lunar transportation. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
