The Department of Environmental Affairs will host representatives of 13 countries for an ice-breaking workshop which starts today, Monday 21 October in Cape Town.
The workshop is facilitated by the Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs (COMNAP) and will take place on board the SA Agulhas II until Wednesday 22 October 2013. The COMNAP is an international association formed in 1988, and brings together its affiliated 29 member states, to effectively manage their respective National Antarctic Programs.
The association aims to develop and promote best practice in managing the support of scientific research in Antarctica. National Antarctic Programs are the organizations that have responsibility for delivering and supporting scientific research in the Antarctic Treaty Area on behalf of their respective governments and in the spirit of the Antarctic Treaty.
To this end, the COMNAP serves as a forum to develop practices to improve effective management of the Antarctic programs in an environmentally responsible manner. It further facilitates and promotes international partnerships; providing opportunities and systems for information exchange. It also provides the Antarctic Treaty System with objective and practical, technical and non-political advice drawn from the National Antarctic Program’s pool of expertise.
As a number of COMNAP members are at various stages in their respective processes to replace their Polar Research vessels, this workshop will enable them to share ideas and lessons to advance their processes. South Africa has most recently gone through the process of building a ‘one-of-a-kind’ Polar Research and Supply vessel, the SA Agulhas II.
The workshop therefore presents an opportunity for other COMNAP members to draw some important lessons from South Africa’s experience. The SA Agulhas II is designed to navigate one-meter-thick pack ice at a speed of five knots. The vessel conducted her open water sea and ice trials in the Bay of Bothnia in February 2012.
During the trial voyage, the vessel encountered ice up to 0.6 metres (2.0 ft) thick and performed beyond expectations. In addition, the hull and machinery of the vessel were instrumented to measure full-scale ice loads. Research is constantly conducted on the vessel to gain more knowledge about her interaction with ice. It is lessons such as these and many others that South Africa will share with other COMNAP member states during the four day workshop.
For media enquiries:
Zolile Nqayi
Cell: 082 898 6483
