Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
10
Managing the frozen
commons
OLAV ORHEIM
The Antarctic Treaty is indispensable to the world of science which
knows no national or other political boundaries, but it is much more than
that… it is a document unique in history which may take its place alongside
the Magna Carta and other great symbols of man's quest for
enlightenment and order.
Laurence Gould, 1960
A lawless century: the early years of sealing
and whaling
When James Cook had circumnavigated Antarctica in 1775 he reported an
abundance of seals, and this caught the attention of the sealing community in
the north. Coming mostly from the United States and from the United Kingdom,
they hunted both the fur seals for their fur, and the elephant seals for oil. Sealing
continued for over a century, but with varying economic returns. The activities
peaked around 1820. It has been estimated that a third of the estimated 5.2million
fur seals killed in the south were killed within the Antarctic region. The sealing
period was one of no regulations in the southern ocean, and the sealers did not
in general publish their geographic discoveries, as such knowledge was of
commercial value.
However, several national expeditions carried out geographic explorations,
and their activities are well documented. The expedition led by Fabian Gottlieb
vonBellingshausenoftheRussianImperialNavywasprobablythe
rst to see
Antarctica on 27 January 1820. This was 3 days before Edward Brans
eld of the
British Royal Navy recorded sighting land. Almost a year later, the American sealer
Nathaniel Palmer also reported having seen land, and his countryman, the
 
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