Debris recorded in ice free areas of an Antarctic Specially Managed Area (ASMA): Admiralty Bay, King George Island, Antarctic Peninsula

Abstract

The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty, or Madri Protocol - 1991, was created with the objective of preventing the contamination of the Antarctic environment and to guarantee the preservation of its natural resources. From the past to the presented time the Antarctic is considered a special area for conservation because it has exclusive environmental characteristics. Admiralty Bay, located on King George Island (South Shetland), is an Antarctic Specially Managed Area (ASMA) and, at the moment, there are five international stations located there. Since the beginning of its human occupation in 1819, with the arrival of the first sailors a lot of environmental changes can be register. This paper makes the first register of debris in this area, based on studies carried out during the summers of 2002/2003, 2003/2004 and 2004/2005. In total, 186 items were recorded as debris. In our study the majority of the debris was composed of wood (49%), followed by synthetic materials: metal (18%), plastic (16%), miscellaneous (16%) and cement (1%). However, what we can observe is that most of the recorded debris for Admiralty Bay comes from research activities (38%), resulting from remaining construction debris of research support; or equally, abandoned experiments, whose structures were not removed.

Key words: South Shetland Island, Admiralty Bay, waste, pollution, environmental impact.