Icy land rights bid
AUSTRALIA could gain marine jurisdiction over an area the size of Switzerland, local marine scientists say.
University of Tasmania researchers recently returned from a two-month Heard Island expedition one step closer to including William’s Ridge in Australia’s jurisdiction.
Lead investigator and Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies Professor Mike Coffin said UTAS scientists spearheaded the international expedition and acquired as much geophysical data and samples as they had hoped.
He said mirrored structures and stratigraphy suggested William’s Ridge was adjoining the Central Kerguelen Plateau, a finding which is likely to strengthen Australia’s case to extend the continental shelf.
Prof Coffin said the ridge could prove valuable to Australia, comparing the situation to 1867 when the US bought Alaska. “No one knew at that time of the vast mineral, oil, gas, and other resources that Alaska contains,” he said. “Similarly, currently we have no idea what resources William’s Ridge contains that could have untold value in the decades, centuries and millennia ahead.”
He said the team was waiting to receive results from shore-based rock sample analyses and advice from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade during a “long process” which could take years for the United Nations to approve.
He said the $6 million project brought together “the best scientific team globally”, comprising 23 diverse scientists and students from 11 countries, including Australia, Canada, China and the US.
IMAS and UTAS undergraduate Sylvie King said she was grateful to develop new data collection skills and better understand the “incredible fields of research” available after her first expedition.
“Being surrounded by such passionate, enthusiastic people and having the opportunity to work so closely with them definitely made the whole experience worthwhile,” she said.
“Not to mention the whales and albatrosses that often popped over to say hello.”