TROLL STATION, Antarctica.—Nations claiming parts of
Antarctica are quietly staking out rights to the seabed, in stark contrast to
the North Pole where Russia ostentatiously planted a flag to back its claim.
"We have a vessel making seismic surveys of the continental
shelf," Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg told Reuters at the Troll
research station, 155 miles inland in a part of Antarctica claimed by Oslo.
Interested countries are tiptoeing around the question of who
owns the Antarctic seabed, and potential deposits of oil and gas, fearing it
could open the floodgates to counter-claims or undermine a treaty protecting the
continent as a nature reserve.
Unlike the Arctic, which is open to competition for minerals,
Antarctica is set aside forever for peaceful purposes and scientific research
under a 1959 treaty that was a big success of the Cold War.
Argentina, Australia, Britain, Chile, France, New Zealand and
Norway – all close to Antarctica or with historical ties – made claims before
the treaty took effect. Moscow and Washington did not make claims but reserved
the right to do so.
Norway’s interests go back almost a century – Norwegian
explorer Roald Amundsen was first to reach the South Pole in 1911, before Briton
Robert Falcon Scott.
However, the Antarctic Treaty is being tested by the U.N.
Convention on the Law of the Sea, which has set a deadline of May 2009 for most
coastal states to map their continental shelves, aiming to define rights to
seabed areas.
Johannes Huber, head of the Antarctic Treaty Secretariat in
Buenos Aires, told Reuters: "Under the Antarctic Treaty you cannot increase your
claim, you cannot make new claims."
He added: "There are quite a few prohibitions, so anything
that makes it seem like they are increasing their territory could lead to
trouble. None of the moves so far have caused any controversy among the
Antarctic Treaty parties."
Australia and New Zealand are the only states to have made
low-key bids so far over seabed rights, but insist they will respect
Antarctica’s status as a natural reserve. Others have yet to decide.
Although its deposits of oil, gas and minerals must remain
undisturbed for now, Antarctica has other assets that countries are able to
exploit.
Its tourism industry brings in almost 40,000 visitors a year,
and abundant stocks of krill, a small crustacean, provide a source of fish feed,
dietary supplements, food flavoring and pharmaceuticals, and can even be used
for cleaning Old Masters.
The Antarctic treaty puts territorial claims on hold and bans
hunting for minerals until 2048 at the earliest, when a review is possible.
The shadow-boxing over Antarctica’s seabed is far from the unbridled rivalry
over resources in the Arctic, which could hold a quarter of the world’s
undiscovered oil and gas reserves according to some official US estimates.
