South Georgia landings and bird flu - information

[Ziggy99]

According to the S Georgia and Sandwich Islands Govt, a site may be open to landings but the final decision is up to the cruise company. 

 

Operators don't want to spread bird flu - it can persist for months in soil - and there is a chance that humans can acquire it.  The tour operators association IAATO has committed not to land or to leave a site where behavioural signs of bird flu are observed.  (This applies to all antarctic and subantarctic tours that members conduct.)

 

A landing sites map of South Georgia is here

 

The govt will be reviewing site advice at the end of this month (March).  The current status is in the doc attached.  Some sites are open (the yellow column) with enhanced biosecurity measures but the operator may still decide not to go there. 

The meaning of the colour codes is given in the Biosecurity Handbook p36 and following.

SIte-resonse-level_240304 Copy.pdf GSGSSI Biosecurity_Handbook.pdf

Edited March 20 by Ziggy99