This paper describes the historical and contemporary associations between Hobart (Tasmania, Australia) and Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. This association is traced from the sealing and whaling industry, through early exploration and scientific expeditions, to contemporary issues of institutional and educational development and tourism. I is argued that this polar link has placed Hobart at the centre of some important Antarctic and Southern Ocean developments.

There are two classes of airborne tourism in Antarctica: overflights without landing, and fl ights including landing. The earliest overflight was in 1956, but there were no regular flights until 1977, when Qantas and Air New Zealand began overflights with wide-bodied aircraft. A crash on Mount Erebus in 1979 that killed 257 people drew attention to the absence of effective planning, air traffic control, and rescue services. Landings began in the South Shetland Islands in 1982, when C-130 aircraft of Fuerza Aerea de Chile brought passengers from Punta Arenas. Since 1983, tourists have been accommodated in a Chilean government hostel. Flights to the interior began in 1984 when climbers were taken to the Sentinel Range by ski-equipped aircraft. Unmodified transport aircraft have been used since 1987, making wheel landings on naturally occurring bare ice in the Heritage Range. Tourists were taken from this site to the South Pole in 1988 by smaller, ski-equipped aircraft. Owing to the lack of conventional airfields in Antarctica, the future of intercontinental operations may depend on the development of additional airfields on bare ice. There are many possible sites. Most are near the periphery of the continent but some are in high latitudes, one only 300 km from the South Pole. A few of these will allow direct flights of unmodified passenger aircraft from South America, South Africa, Australia, or New Zealand. The possibility of 300 day-trippers stepping onto the ice from a Boeing 747 raises a variety of safety and environmental concerns. The challenge to the Antarctic Treaty System will be to reconcile the interests of governments, scientists, airlines, tour operators, tourists, and environmentalists.

The background to the development and implementation of environmental impact assessment procedures in Antarctica is reviewed and the principles and procedures of the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (the Madrid Protocol of 1991) are outlined. The difficulties in determining the appropriate level of assessment and the practical, operational aspects of carrying out the evaluations are examined. Particular attention is given to the meaning of terminology in the Protocol, the interpretation of environmental principles and standards, alternatives to the proposed activity, the requirements for sufficient information, the process of obtaining and taking into account public comment, the monitoring of environmental indicators, and the practical implications where an activity needs to be suspended, cancelled, or modified. The workloads generated by the procedures and the credibility of the processes are discussed in view of a possible perception that the exercises may amount to little more than ‘red tape’ to justify decisions that would be taken in any case. Recommendations are made that could improve the EIA process in Antarctica.

The history of the struggle for aboriginal self-government in Canada is reviewed, leading to the signing of the Model Self-Government Agreement for aboriginal First Nations in the Yukon Territory. The contents and unique features of the Model Agreement are discussed, and some conclusions on its implications for future responsible government (provincial status) for the Yukon Territory are drawn.

In 1850 Lady Franklin sent out the first of her private expeditions in search of her husband and the crews of HMS Erebus and Terror, lost in the islands of the Canadian Arctic. The expedition sailed in Prince Albert, a vessel Lady Franklin acquired for the purpose. Its aim was to winter in Prince Regent Inlet and explore the area to the west, using two separate boat parties. These parties were to be under Commander Charles Codrington Forsyth, RN, the captain of the ship, and William Parker Snow. After passage to Prince Regent Inlet, Forsyth turned back because he was prevented from penetrating the inlet further than Fury Beach by what was regarded as unbreachable ice. Prince Albert then passed near Cape Riley, where Snow obtained information concerning relics that had been found by another expedition and that indicated that Franklin had wintered in that vicinity. News of this and further relics were brought back to Britain by Forsyth. The return caused much disappointment to Lady Franklin. She determined to send Prince Albert out again with a different commander. Snow wished to have that post, but it was allocated to William Kennedy.

This study is an analysis of the events surrounding the expedition, with reference to the light they throw on the personalities involved. It is suggested that the main reason for the failure was that the preparation was mismanaged. No efforts were made to secure the appointment of people who had sufficient similarity of interests or background to be an effective team. Forsyth found the situation on board such that he decided to conclude the voyage as soon as a reasonable excuse for returning presented itself.

Incidental mortality of Southern Ocean seabirds due to fishing activities well away from the breeding grounds has been implicated in the population declines of wandering albatross (Diomedea exulans) on South Georgia (Croxall and others 1990) and lies Crozet, black-browed albatross (Diomedea melanophris) on lies Kerguelen, and possibly the southern giant petrel (Macronectes giganteus) (Jouventin and Weimerskirch 1990). Albatrosses are particularly at risk from longline fisheries, based on the high proportion in recoveries of banded birds from longline fishing vessels off Brazil (Croxall and Prince 1990), and on direct observation of albatross during surface and midwater longline fishing for tuna in the Tasman Sea (Brothers 1991).

In August 1991 the authors organized a field seminar on visual anthropology in the village of Kazym in northwestern Siberia. The intention was to help establish the practice of visual ethnography among a small group of native Siberians interested in actively promoting their culture. (Visual anthropology and visual ethnography are terms used to describe the use of film, video, or photography to reveal a society's cultural characteristics either to itself or to other societies.) Members of the Association forUgrian Salvation, a regional native group, had shown an interest in using video ethnography to extend the awareness of Khant culture and to encourage its preservation and revitalization i n the context of its emergence from mainstream Soviet society. Its original intention to provide a record for scholars and for use by Khant teachers in the regional schools had expanded to include television broadcasting of native programs in the Khanty viewing area. The program proved to be a practical way to enhance local participation in creating visual and written ethnographic records for research, archival, and educational purposes.

In a voyage beginning 24 July in Ulsan, South Korea, and ending i n St Petersburg, Russia, on 21 September 1992, the icebreaker Kapitan Khlebnikov successfully completed an unassisted transit of the Northwest Passage, from Bering Strait to the North Atlantic Ocean. The ship was chartered jointly by Polar Schiffahrts-Consulting, Hamburg, Germany; Blyth and Company Travel, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; and D.G. Wells Marine Ltd, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was marketed for tourists, some of whom traveled the entire distance of 14,120 nautical miles [26,150 km]. Khlebnikov was the fifty-third vessel to complete the Northwest Passage since Roald Amundsen first accomplished it in 1906 (Pullen and Swithinbank 1991, and confirmed by the office of Coast Guard Northern, Ottawa, Canada).