The Antarctic (Amendment) Regulations 2021

Statutory Instruments

2021 No. 509

Antarctica

The Antarctic (Amendment) Regulations 2021

Made

26th April 2021

Laid before Parliament

29th April 2021

Coming into force

31st May 2021

The Secretary of State makes the following Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 9(1), 10(1), 25(1) and (3) of the Antarctic Act 1994(1).

Citation, commencement and interpretation

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Antarctic (Amendment) Regulations 2021 and come into force on 31st May 2021.

(2) In these Regulations, “the principal Regulations” means the Antarctic Regulations 1995(2).

Amendments to the principal Regulations

2.  The principal Regulations are amended as follows:

(a) The area listed in Schedule 1 to the principal Regulations as “Antarctic Specially Protected Area No. 141: Yukidori Valley, Langhovde, Lützow-Holm Bay” is deleted.

(b) The area listed and described in Schedule 1 to these Regulations is added to Schedule 1 to the principal Regulations.

(c) The Antarctic Historic Sites and Monuments listed in Schedule 2 to these Regulations are added to Schedule 2 to the principal Regulations.

Ahmad

Minister of State

Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

26th April 2021

Regulation 2(b)

SCHEDULE 1 Restricted Areas

Antarctic Specially Protected Area No. 141

Yukidori Valley, Langhovde, Lützow-Holm Bay

Lat: 69°14′S; Long: 39°46′E

The Yukidori Valley (69°14′30″S, 39°46′00″E) is situated in the middle part of Langhovde, on the east coast of Lützow-Holm Bay, Continental Antarctica. The Area encompasses 2.0–2.5 kilometres by 1.8 kilometres, located between a tongue of the ice cap and sea at the western end of the Valley. The fellfield ecosystem and long-term monitoring sites are contained entirely within Yukidori Valley, and the Area boundary is designed to afford protection to the entire valley/catchment system. The Area does not include any marine area.

The location and boundaries of the Area are shown on Maps 1, 2 and 3 of the Antarctic Specially Protected Area No. 141 Management Plan, published at pages 58 to 60 of the Command Paper “The Antarctic Treaty: Measures adopted at the Forty-second Consultative Meeting held at Prague, Czech Republic, 1 – 11 July 2019”(3).

Regulation 2(c)

SCHEDULE 2 Antarctic Historic Sites and Monuments

Site No.	Description of Site	Latitude, Longitude
93	Endurance, Wreck of the vessel owned and used by Sir Ernest Shackleton during his 1914-15 Trans-Antarctic Expedition. Wreck of the vessel Endurance, including all artefacts contained within or formerly contained within the ship, which may be lying on the seabed in or near the wreck within a 150m radius. This includes all fixtures and fittings associated with the ship, including ship’s wheel, bell, etc. The designation also includes all items of personal possessions left on the ship by the ship’s company at the time of its sinking.	The exact location of the wreck is unknown as the ship floated in the pack ice for some distance.
94	C.A. Larsen Multiexpedition cairn. The site consists of a rock cairn installed in 1892 by Norwegian Capt. Carl Anton Larsen during the first land-exploration of the area around the current location of the Argentina’s Marambio Station, where the first Antarctic fossil discoveries were made. The cairn used to have an attached wooden pole (2m high and 5cm diameter) of which nothing remains.	64°14′13.06″S, 56°35′7.50″W

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations update the Antarctic Regulations 1995 (S.I. 1995/490) to reflect measures adopted at the Forty-second Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting, held at Prague in July 2019. They amend Schedule 1 to those Regulations by replacing the description of Antarctic Specially Protected Area No. 141 with a revised version that makes reference to new boundary definitions. They also amend Schedule 2 to those Regulations by adding two new Antarctic Historic Sites and Monuments.

An impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private or voluntary sector is foreseen.

(1)

1994 c.15. Section 9(1) was amended by section 14(1) and (2)(c) of the Antarctic Act 2013 (c.15); section 10(1) was amended by sections 14(1), 14(2)(d), 15(1) and 15(2)(a) of the Antarctic Act 2013.

(2)

S.I. 1995/490. Relevant amendments were made, and the Schedules consolidated in full, by S.I. 2017/706. There are other amendments to the principal Regulations which are not relevant.

(3)

CP 247. Command Paper CP 247, “The Antarctic Treaty: Measures adopted at the Forty-second Consultative Meeting held at Prague, Czech Republic, 1 – 11 July 2019”, is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-antarctic-treaty-measures-adopted-at-the-42nd-consultative-meeting-2019 or for inspection free of charge, by appointment only, at the Parliamentary Archives, Houses of Parliament, London, SW1A 0PW.