Antarctic Specially Managed Area (ASMA)

Purpose

The purpose of ASMAs is to assist in the planning and coordination of activities within a specified area, avoid possible conflicts, improve cooperation between ATCPs and minimise environmental impacts. ASMAs may include areas where activities pose risks of mutual interference or cumulative environmental impacts, as well as sites or monuments of recognised historical value.

Individual Management Plans are prepared for each ASMA. Entry into an ASMA does not require a permit, but activities are guided by a Code of Conduct set out in the Management Plan. ASMAs may incorporate one or more ASPAs, into which entry is prohibited without a permit.

Description of ASMA
1. Admiralty Bay, King George Island, South Shetland Islands
This ASMA comprises the area considered to be immediately within the glacial drainage basin of Admiralty Bay as well as part of the present SSSI No. 8 which is adjacent to this region but outside the drainage basin. The area is bounded by a line extending from Telefon Point (62°14'S, 58°28'W) in the south to The Tower (62°13'S, 58°29'W), and then towards Jardine Peak (62°10'S, 58°30'W) intersecting the ice divide of the Warszawa Ice Field, thence following this divide to the west of Ezcurra Inlet (62°10'S, 58°33'W), north eastwards to enclose Mackellar (62°05'S, 58°27'W) and Martel inlets (62°05'S, 58°22'W), and then southwards through Ternyck Needle (62°05'S, 58°16'W) to Syrezol Rocks (62°12'S, 58°17'W) on the eastern shore of Admiralty Bay. The waters of Admiralty Bay, and a small part of Bransfield Strait north of a straight line between Syrezol Rocks and Telefon Point, are also included in the ASMA. Approximate area: 370 km2. The area contains Arctowski Station (Poland), Comandante Ferraz Station (Brazil), Machu Picchu Station (Peru) and the summer field camps Point Hennequin (Ecuador) and Pieter J Lenie (USA), as well as SSSI No. 8 and HSM No. 51. Designation on the grounds that, due to the area's outstanding environmental, scientific, scenic and historic value, and the number of national Antarctic programmes and tourist parties operating in close proximity to one another, the opportunity exists to:

  1. improve the level of mutual assistance and cooperation among the Parties operating in the area;
  2. avoid or minimise the risk of mutual interference and cumulative impacts on the terrestrial and marine environment;
  3. improve the understanding of natural processes at work in the area, which in turn will help protect the environment from unnecessary disturbance;
  4. protect the important physiographic features, and the outstanding biological, ecological, historical and aesthetic values of the area and;
  5. safeguard the long term scientific research in the area.

Jointly proposed by Brazil and Poland, in coordination with Ecuador and Peru. The Management Plan for the area was voluntarily adopted by the ATCPs at the ATCM XX (Utrecht, 1996). Management Plan to be reviewed on a five-year basis.