The Anarctic Peace Treaty

The ANTARCTIC PEACE TREATY 
A Discussion Aboard the SS Explorer

Weddell Sea

Antarctica

December 2007

I was on a ship, making its way around the northern tip of Antarctica. Victoria, one of our guides, gave a lecture one day on the Peace Treaty.  It was signed in 1974 by 12 countries and it continues to be the agreement of the day.  In essence, the continent of Antarctica is only to be used for purposes of peace and science.  There may not be any military presence on the continent.  No country may lay claim to it and no individual may own any land.  All decisions are made by this pact of nations.  The UN has no say.  And there is no involvement of any NGO’S (non government organizations).  Victoria expressed her concerns about this lack of involvement.

A day later this lecture, a team of scientist came on board and spoke to us about their research at the US Palmer Research Center.  This was an introduction to what we were going to see at our landing later in the day.  They gave us an overview of some of their research projects.

But then they went on to show us a slideshow of some of their research projects.  They had a slide of a seal that had a wooden box glued to its head.  The scientists laughed and assured us that the box was only temporary.  It would fall off as the seal shed its skin.  And the box did not interfere with the quality of the seal’s life.

Their explanation annoyed me.  Who are we to decide that this wooden box does not affect the quality of the seal’s life?  Who are we to think that our desire to know about the life of a seal is greater that the needs of the seal.

So I asked Victoria what checks and balances the treaty had to determine what should and should not be researched.  How is it determined that a project may really only be  our want to know versus our need to know.  My question stumped her a little bit so she ran off to get Fiona, our resident biologist.

I relayed my concerns to Fiona as she had missed the presentation.  Her immediately response was similar to mine.  She did assure me that all research goes through an ethics review.  But she thought the box on the head of a seal seemed a bit excessive.  When Victoria confirmed my perceptions of the smugness of the scientist, we then moved into a discussion of having NGO groups which advocate for the animals.  We all agreed that we would write to someone when we got home.  I wonder if any of us will follow through with our plan.

NOTE: It's 8 years later and I never followed up.