Tourism or destruction? Ships are wiping out unique species in Antarctica
Scientists have found evidence of humanity’s interference with a particular marine species.
Once again, humankind’s impact on the natural world continues to be catastrophic. Scientists have discovered that ship anchors are having a devastating effect on the natural world beneath the waves.
During the summer of 2022–2023, researchers recorded 36 dives in different locations ranging from the Antarctic Peninsula to South Georgia Island. Using cameras mounted on tourist vessels, they captured the seabed during anchoring and while at drift.
The footage shows “clear scour marks delineating the disrupted substrate from undisturbed seafloor supporting marine life”: chains cutting deep grooves into sediment, displacing mounds of mud, and physically crushing creatures such as slow‑growing sponges. In one site, the so-called “Yankee Harbour,” a cactus‑like sponge colony has been completely annihilated. Just meters away, undisturbed zones teem with rich biodiversity, showing the stark impact of humanity. This is, as the paper says, represents “the first published observation of anchor damage in Antarctica.”
Antarctic species are especially vulnerable to anchor damage due to their slow growth and extreme longevity, factors which mean any physical disturbance can wipe out entire communities. Despite strict conservation rules, anchoring remains largely unregulated, allowing tourism and shipping activities to cause unending damage of the fragile marine habitats.
The research, published on June 8 in Frontiers in Conservation Science, sounds the alarm for urgent action: regulating polar tourism must include specific guidelines or bans on anchoring in sensitive areas.
“The amount of ships and people visiting Antarctica is increasing. In the 2022–2023 season, over 70,000 people landed in Antarctica onboard 70 tourism vessels mainly operating in anchorable coastal waters”, write the authors, with “an estimated 20 to 30 private yachts visit[ing] Antarctica each season.”
As well as that, they estimate that “20–30 fishing vessels may conduct illegal fishing operations in the Southern Ocean" and that at present, “there is no publicly available database for documenting the number of anchorages, nor the number of vessels anchoring in Antarctica annually.”
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