When Dave Sugden and I worked on Fildes Peninsula (King George Island) for several weeks in 1966, on our BAS Raised Marine Features project, there was no sign of human habitation and precious little to suggest that anybody had ever been there before us. It was a pristine wilderness, bleak and partly snow-covered, and we had the whole place to ourselves -- unsupported and taking risks that in retrospect were completely crazy........ Around the coasts there were Chinstrap, Gentoo and Adelie rookeries in abundance, and Weddell, Elephant and Leopard seals on almost every hauling-out beach.
Ardley Island on the right, and the main peninsula on the left.
When we were there, there were occasional visits from Chilean, Argentinian and UK naval vessels sculling about, all under instructions to maintain territorial claims while being seen to respect the Antarctic Treaty. And there were cruise ships too, discovering that the South Shetlands were relatively easy to get at and quite handy for putting tourists ashore so thy they could enjoy "the Antarctic experience"..........
Then the decision was made, somewhere, to sacrifice the Fildes Peninsula. Now it's the most heavily polluted part of Antarctica, with roadways, four bases, a runway, fuel depots, scrap iron everywhere, and goodness knows how much contamination of land and water from leaking fuel and garbage. Take a look at the following depressing images.
All, I suppose, in the cause of science -- since these are called "scientific research bases." Sometimes I think science is maybe not such a good idea.........
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