Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansion costs surge 44% to C$30.9 billion


 A pipe yard servicing government-owned oil pipeline operator

 Trans Mountain is seen in Kamloops

Fri, March 10, 2023 
By Nia Williams

(Reuters) -The cost of the Canadian government-owned Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansion has jumped 44% from last year's estimate to C$30.9 billion ($22.35 billion), the federal corporation building the project said on Friday.

Trans Mountain Corp (TMC) said it is in the process of securing external financing to fund the remaining cost of the project, which is now expected to start shipping oil in the first quarter of 2024.

The 590,000 barrel-per-day pipeline expansion will nearly triple the flow of barrels from Alberta's oil sands to Canada's Pacific coast, opening access to Asian markets. It has been beset by regulatory delays, environmental opposition and hefty budget overruns.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government bought the pipeline from Kinder Morgan Inc in 2018 to ensure the expansion got built, drawing sharp criticism from environmental groups.

Last February TMC increased the cost estimate to C$21.4 billion, up from C$12.6 billion in 2020 and C$7.4 billion in 2017. Following last year's jump, the Canadian government said it would halt any further public funding for the project.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland reiterated government plans to sell the pipeline once it is complete.

"As we committed to Canadians last year, no additional public money will be invested in this project as construction is completed," Freeland said in a statement.

"The federal government does not intend to be the long-term owner of the project, and we will launch a divestment process in due course."

BMO Capital Markets and TD Securities have been engaged by the government to provide advice on certain financial aspects of the project.

In a letter to the government on Friday, the banks said once the expansion is complete TMC is expected to generate earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of more than C$2.4 billion a year and would be commercially viable.

BMO declined to comment and TD did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Eleven oil shippers, including Canadian Natural Resources Ltd and MEG Energy have committed to long-term contracts that make up 80% of Trans Mountain's capacity.

TMC blamed the cost increase on a number of factors including high global inflation and supply chain issues, floods in British Columbia, unexpected major archaeological discoveries and challenging terrain.

The corporation also said the current cost estimate does not include reserves for "extraordinary risks" and could change again.

"As with all projects of this size, risks to the final costs and schedule will remain as work is completed through 2023," TMC said in a statement.

Keith Stewart, a senior energy strategist with Greenpeace Canada, said buying and building the pipeline would go down as one of the worst infrastructure decisions ever made by a Canadian government.

"It was always a disaster from a climate change perspective, but this is now an economic crime that has stolen C$30 billion of public funds from real climate solutions," Stewart said.

(Reporting by Nia Williams in British Columbia, Steve Scherer in Ottawa, Maiya Keidan in Toronto and Rahul Paswan in Bengaluru; Editing by Leslie Adler, Grant McCool and David Gregorio)

British unions lose legal challenge over $23 billion pension reform bill

Fri, 10 March 2023 


'Britain Deserves Better' Trade union protest march in London


LONDON (Reuters) -Two British trade unions on Friday lost a legal challenge to changes to public sector pensions they argue allows the government to unlawfully pass the 19-billion-pound ($23 billion) cost of discriminatory pension reforms onto workers.

The Fire Brigades Union and the British Medical Association argued Britain's finance ministry was effectively making members of newer pension schemes foot the bill for its own mistake.

But a judge at London's High Court dismissed the two unions' case in a written ruling on Friday.

The legal action followed a 2018 court ruling that the exclusion of younger staff from more beneficial "legacy" pension schemes, as part of wider government reforms, amounted to unlawful age discrimination.

That decision landed the government with a bill estimated at between 17 and 19 billion pounds in additional future pension payments to around three million public sector workers.

In 2021, the government included that bill in the valuation of public sector pension schemes – without which, the unions said, scheme members' benefits would have increased or their contributions would have been reduced.

The unions' lawyers argued at a hearing in January that the decision was unlawful as it was taken without assessing other options.

The government had said it was faced with a "basic choice" between asking public sector employees – and ultimately the taxpayer – or pension scheme members to bear the cost.

Dr Vishal Sharma, chair of the British Medical Association's pensions committee, said in a statement: "We firmly believe that affected doctors and other public sector workers must not pick up the bill for the government's unlawful discrimination and we will be considering an appeal."

The Fire Brigades Union and Britain's finance ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Sam Tobin, editing by Deepa Babington)

Al Gore warns it would be ‘recklessly irresponsible’ to allow Alaska oil drilling plan


Oliver Milman
Fri, 10 March 2023 

Photograph: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images

Al Gore has warned it would be “recklessly irresponsible” to allow an enormous, controversial oil drilling project to proceed in Alaska, speaking ahead of a decision from the Biden administration on whether to approve it. Gore spoke amid growing alarm among Democrats and campaigners that the Willow development will drastically undermine the US’s effort to confront the climate crisis.

The vast, multi-billion-dollar ConocoPhillips oil project, to be situated on the tundra of Alaska’s northern Arctic coast, is awaiting approval from the federal government that could arrive as soon as Friday. Gore, the former US vice-president and leading climate advocate, told the Guardian that the planned drilling would threaten local communities as well as the task of curbing dangerous global heating.

“The proposed expansion of oil and gas drilling in Alaska is recklessly irresponsible,” Gore said. “The pollution it would generate will not only put Alaska native and other local communities at risk, it is incompatible with the ambition we need to achieve a net zero future.

“We don’t need to prop up the fossil fuel industry with new, multi-year projects that are a recipe for climate chaos,” Gore added. “Instead, we must end the expansion of oil, gas and coal and embrace the abundant climate solutions at our fingertips.”

The Willow project has become a leading target for climate campaigners due to the huge volume of planet-heating emissions it could unleash. The drilling operation would extract up to 180,0000 barrels of oil a day, about 1.6% of total US oil production from one site alone. In a grim irony, ConocoPhillips has said it may have to re-freeze ground that is rapidly thawing as the Arctic heats up in order to stabilize the drilling equipment.

An exploratory drilling camp at the site of the Willow project on Alaska’s North Slope is seen in 2019. Photograph: AP

This drilling would result in 278m tons of greenhouse gases over a 30-year lifespan of the development, according to the administration’s own estimates, the equivalent of adding 2m gasoline-consuming cars onto the road or running more than 70 coal-fired power plants for a year. The pollution produced would comfortably wipe out the emissions saved from all renewable energy projects on US public lands by 2030.

The Department of the Interior has said it has “substantial concerns” about the Willow project’s impact upon the climate and the subsistence lifestyle of native Alaskan communities but has completed an environmental review of the development that it said would improve it, such as drilling at three sites rather than five and reducing the number of roads and other infrastructure that would be built in the wilderness.

The prospect of the administration approving a full or abridged version of the project has sparked alarm among local communities, climate campaigners and Biden’s Democratic allies.

The International Energy Agency has said no new fossil fuel infrastructure can be built if the world is to avoid disastrous climate change and two dozen Democrats in Congress have written to Biden warning that Willow poses “a significant threat to US progress on climate issues”. The lawmakers called upon the president to “stop this ill-conceived and misguided project”.

A wave of opposition to the Willow project has hit the White House in recent weeks, including in-person rallies in Washington DC and a viral #StopWillow campaign on social media. An online petition calling for the project to be halted has garnered more than 3m signatures. Critics have pointed out the project fatally undermines Biden’s promise to deal with the climate crisis, which he has called an “existential threat” to humanity.

“President Biden continues to address climate change during high-profile speeches and events but his actions are contradictory,” said Siqiniq Maupin, executive director of the Sovereign Iñupiat for a Living Arctic, an Indigenous group that has warned the project would endanger the subsistence lifestyle of native communities that rely upon the migration of a caribou herd, as well as other established patterns in the environment, to live in their Arctic surrounds.

Biden has come under pressure from proponents of the project, too, with Alaskan lawmakers and some native groups arguing Willow would create much-needed jobs and investment for the region. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican senator from Alaska, has called the size of the project “minuscule” and that it has been “meticulously planned” to avoid harm to the environment.

The battle over Willow is likely to end up in the courts, with environmental advocates vowing to keep fighting any iteration of the project. “I think that litigation is very likely,” said Jeremy Lieb, a senior attorney for Earthjustice. “We and our clients don’t see any acceptable version of this project.”

‘We are still suffering’: Families struggle to find food 6 months from devastating Pakistan floods

Rosie Frost
Fri, 10 March 2023 


Six months after widespread flooding submerged a third of Pakistan, people are still struggling to survive.

Inflation has sent the price of food skyrocketing and families, especially, are being forced to cut back on their meals. Doctors are reporting increased cases of malnutrition, according to Save the Children.

Many are still living in tents around stagnant water and surviving on just one meal a day, the charity says.

“This is one of the biggest disasters this country has ever seen, and after six months, we are still suffering,” says Khuram Gondal, charity Save the Children’s country director for Pakistan.

“These devastating floods are an acute example of how those living in a country responsible for less than 1 per cent of global carbon emissions are seeing their lives completely turned upside down by the climate crisis.”

Gondal adds that, as with many disasters, children are bearing the brunt of the impact.

Just this week, Pakistan's foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said the flooding was “the biggest, most devastating climate catastrophe that we’ve ever experienced.”

And, at the time of the flooding, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif warned that “what happened in Pakistan will now stay in Pakistan.” He called the country the “ground zero of climate change”.

Pakistan: Cases of malnutrition are rising

Communities in Sindh province affected by the floods have told Save the Children staff they are barely surviving due to agricultural land being ruined. It is the main income source for most families in the area.

Hajra lives in a tent with her husband and three children as their house is still damaged by stagnant flood water. Her husband barely earns enough money to buy food for one meal a day for the family as a daily wage labourer.

“We had nothing to eat during the rains, and no milk for the children. It was difficult for us to eat the food as our children start crying when they see us eat, so we fed them what we had,” she says.

“There was nothing left to eat for my husband and me. What should we do? Eat and see our children crying and hungry?”

Waheed, nutrition assistant, feeds Hajra's 10 month old baby at the clinic. - Khaula Jamil/Save the Children

Her 10-month-old baby has developed severe acute malnutrition due to a lack of food as Hajra was weak, sick and couldn’t breastfeed.

She brought him to a healthcare unit run by Save the Children where he was treated and has since improved. The doctor who treated her son, Dr Muhammad Hanif, says that the percentage of children arriving at his clinic with malnutrition has increased from 20 per cent to 60 per cent.

“All the produce that people had from their fields also drowned in the floods so people have absolutely nothing to eat.”

‘They are completely flooded’: Rising sea levels endanger life in Marseille’s coastal huts
What can be done to help people in Pakistan?

Around 33 million people - 16 million of them children - are still in need of help. The UN’s Pakistan Floods Response Plan is just 36 per cent funded more than halfway through its nine-month duration.

Save the Children is calling on the international community to step up and deliver the money needed to prevent a full-scale hunger crisis.

“When will the world listen to these children?” Gondal says.

“We welcome the fact that some steps have been taken - but children in Pakistan need more, not only to rebuild from this catastrophe but also to know that in future, when they will inevitably bear the brunt of yet more climate disasters, the world will not look away.”

The charity is also calling for progress on an agreement made at last year’s COP27 climate summit to establish a Loss and Damage fund. Save the Children says that funds need to be clearly earmarked for climate disasters like the flooding in Pakistan as well as slow onset events like rising sea levels.

Hundreds of pronghorn are dropping dead in Wyoming, officials say. What’s the cause?

Mitchell Willetts
Thu, March 9, 2023

Hundreds of pronghorn antelope have suddenly died in western Wyoming, and wildlife officials say a rare disease is to blame.

In a matter of weeks, starting in mid-February, an estimated 200 pronghorn have died due to pneumonia brought on by Mycoplasma bovis, a disease typically associated with cattle, the state Game and Fish Department said in a March 8 news release.

Photos shared by the department show the animals apparently falling down dead, their bodies collapsed in the snow.

It’s rare to see M. bovis spreading among wildlife in Wyoming, officials said.

“This is a nasty, nasty pathogen,” Hank Edwards, WGFD wildlife disease specialist, told Field & Stream. “Whether it’s in domestic stock or otherwise, it’s just incredibly fatal — particularly in pronghorn. The pneumonia that they’re getting is substantial. It’s killing them pretty ... quickly.”

The deaths appear to be centered in a specific area south of the town of Pinedale, according to the release. However, the source of the outbreak is unknown, and it’s unclear if the pathogen could be more widespread.

“While reported M. bovis outbreaks causing mortality in wildlife are rare, this is not the first occurrence of M. bovis being linked to pronghorn mortalities in Wyoming,” Edwards said in the release.

The disease is not a direct threat to humans, but it can have a devastating impact in other ways, according to the National Institutes of Health, as Mycoplasma bovis infections “are responsible for substantial economic health and welfare problems worldwide.”

From 2019 to 2020, the disease killed nearly 500 pronghorn in the northeastern part of the state before the outbreak burned out during spring, Wyoming wildlife officials said.

“We were hoping that that outbreak was the last of it … but we were really surprised to see it pop up again on the other side of the state,” Edwards told Field & Stream.

Wildlife officials will continue monitoring across the state for signs of M. bovis, the release said.

UN buys huge ship to avert catastrophic oil spill off Yemen


Gareth Evans - BBC News
Thu, March 9, 2023 

The FSO Safer has been abandoned since 2015 and is carrying 1.1m barrels of oil

The UN has purchased a huge ship that it hopes will prevent an environmental catastrophe off the coast of Yemen.

For years, more than a million barrels of crude oil have been sitting on a decaying supertanker in the Red Sea.

There are fears the vessel could soon break apart or explode, risking one of the worst oil spills in recent memory.

But on Thursday, the UN said it had purchased a crude carrier that would head to Yemen and remove the oil from the stricken ship.

"The purchase of this suitable vessel... marks the beginning of the operational phase of the plan to safely remove the oil and avoid the risk of an environmental and humanitarian disaster," Achim Steiner from the UN Development Programme (UNDP) said, adding that it was a "major breakthrough".

A UNDP statement said the ship - which it purchased from major tanker company Euronav - was undergoing routine maintenance in China and would arrive for the operation in early May.

"A major spill would devastate fishing communities on Yemen's Red Sea coast, likely wiping out 200,000 livelihoods instantly. Whole communities would be exposed to life-threatening toxins. Highly polluted air would affect millions," it said.

The organisation added that a potential oil spill could cost up to $20bn (£16.7bn) to clean up.

The UN had been searching for years for a solution and appealed for donations. The planned operation is estimated to cost $129m of which $75m has been received and another $20m has been pledged, it said.

The stranded ship - the FSO Safer - was left abandoned off the port of Hodeida after Yemen's civil war broke out in 2015. It has not been serviced since.

It was constructed as a supertanker in 1976 and converted later into a floating storage for oil. It is anchored near the Ras Isa oil terminal, which is controlled by Yemen's rebel Houthi movement.

The 376m (1,233ft) vessel holds an estimated 1.14m barrels of crude oil.

The Safer's structural integrity has deteriorated significantly since maintenance operations were suspended in 2015, when the Houthis seized large parts of Yemen and a Saudi-led coalition intervened in support of the government. The ensuing conflict has reportedly killed more than 150,000 people and left more than 23 million in need of aid.

Mr Steiner told reporters on Thursday: "Let me be very clear - this is a risky operation and things could go wrong." He added that it could still be suspended if they fail to raise enough funds.

CANADA'S SPY AGENCY
Climate change is posing a serious threat to Canada — and British Columbia in particular, according to CSIS

Fri, March 10, 2023 

Director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, David Vigneault, waits to appear before a parliamentary committee in Ottawa in February. According to a report from the agency, rising sea levels have the potential to destroy 'significant parts' of the westernmost province. (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press - image credit)

Canada's spy agency says climate change is threatening the nation's prosperity and security, and has identified British Columbia as a region of particular concern.

A newly released analysis by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) that was prepared in April 2021 and only recently disclosed to The Canadian Press spells out several concerns presented by global warming.

They include looming threats to water and food security, Arctic sovereignty, and coastal security — the latter of which could greatly impact British Columbians.

According to the report, rising sea levels could cause "irretrievable loss of infrastructure and even entire communities" with the potential to destroy "significant parts" of the westernmost province.

Taking steps to lessen the severity of flood and weather risks may be impractical, and buying insurance or rebuilding after a calamity will simply be too expensive in some cases, the brief says.

CSIS does not detail what regions will be hardest hit, but according to the provincial government, three quarters of B.C.'s population lives along the coast.

Preparing for sea-level rise

"This report is is sobering, but it's not a surprise," said Melissa Lem, president of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE).

"We know that if we continue with business as usual that climate change will have wide-ranging effects on every aspect of society."

Vancouver city planners estimate that sea levels could rise up to two metres in the next 80 years.

Ben Nelms/CBC

Lem, speaking Thursday on The Early Edition, said rising sea levels are already affecting the province's health-care system. She said plans to construct the new St. Paul's Hospital in city are already buffering for this reality.

"They're planning to raise the lot by over a meter to protect this new $1.9-billion facility, but unfortunately everything around it is still going to be flooded when a severe weather event happens," said Lem.

'We haven't seen anything yet': CAPE president

British Columbians are no strangers to severe weather events in recent years, including raging wildfires, catastrophic floods, marine heat waves and a horrific heat dome that killed over 600 people in summer 2021.

CSIS anticipates a higher risk of animal-borne diseases, loss of arable land and shrinking freshwater resources is coming.

Human migration might also grow to unprecedented volume due to newly uninhabitable territory, extreme weather events, drought and food shortages, and human conflict zones, CSIS says.

Ben Nelms/CBC

The spy service is also predicting an increase in ideologically motivated violent extremism from people who want to speed up climate change solutions and those more interested in preserving their current way of life.

"If you think the social disruptions we saw during the pandemic were dramatic, we haven't seen anything yet compared to climate change," said Lem.

Listen to stewards of the land: Indigenous leaders

When it comes to tackling climate change, Indigenous leaders say it is critical to listen to Indigenous people who have been stewards of the land, now known as British Columbia, since time immemorial.

Eli Enns, president and CEO of the IISAAK Olam Foundation — a non-profit educational organization focused on Indigenous-led conservation — said when the Sumas Prairie region of Abbotsford flooded in November 2021, it came as no surprise to elders of the Sumas First Nation, who predicted and warned such a flood would occur after an existing lake there was drained in the 1920s to create farmland.

"We undermine the resiliency of an environment by not respecting the Indigenous peoples of the land," said Enns, also speaking Thursday on CBC Radio.

The B.C. government did commit $100 million Monday to protecting freshwater sources in the province in partnership with First Nations.

Indigenous-led conservation efforts are not only critical to protecting the planet, said Enns, but also B.C.'s young people.

A new study from Lakehead University in Ontario that surveyed 1,000 Canadians aged 16 to 25 showed 80 per cent of respondents' mental health had been impacted by climate change. Nearly half think humanity is doomed.

"If the adults in the room were getting along with each other and working toward the benefit of all of our children and grandchildren, it would inspire more sense of hope," said Enns.

Province gives go-ahead for new gold and silver mine in central B.C.

Thu, March 9, 2023 

Vancouver-based mining company Artemis will operate the Blackwater gold and silver mine 112 kilometres southwest of Vanderhoof, B.C. (Artemis Gold Inc. - image credit)

The B.C. government has approved a construction and operation permit for a 44-square-kilometre gold and silver mine in the province's central Interior.

The mine, located 112 kilometres southwest of Vanderhoof, B.C., will be operated by Vancouver-based Artemis Gold and is expected to create 450 jobs per year, along with over 800 more per year during its construction and expansion phases, the province said.

The announcement comes three years after the province signed an economic and community development agreement with the Lhoosk'uz Dené Nation and Ulkatcho First Nation — on whose territories Blackwater is located — to share mineral tax revenue from the mine.

The province says the nations have been engaged in all aspects of the project, from exploration, to permitting and environmental assessment, while the mine's owners and both nations have a project participation agreement in place.

The B.C. government forecasts the Blackwater Mine will contribute more than $516 million to the province's average annual gross domestic product and more than $47 million in average annual provincial mineral tax.

During its 22-year lifetime, the mine will contribute a total of $13.2 billion to B.C.'s economy, including $2.3 billion in provincial revenue, the province adds.

Premier David Eby says the approval of Blackwater Mine is good news for local communities.

"The Blackwater gold project will put lots of people to work and create a wide range of opportunities and benefits for local businesses, communities and First Nations, while ensuring the highest standards of environmental protection, mitigation and sustainability," Eby said in a written statement.

The province says it has engaged the First Nations in the environmental assessment of the mine site. It adds that the mine site is connected to B.C. Hydro grid, meaning it will be powered with a sustainable source of low-carbon hydroelectricity.

Ulkatcho First Nation Chief Lynda Price says her community has been involved in Blackwater Mine's environmental assessment since 2015.

"We continue to work in collaboration with Artemis Gold Inc., Lhoosk'uz Dené Nation, and both the federal and provincial governments, to achieve the best mitigation results for all Canadians," she said in a written statement.

The province says B.C.'s mining sector had a forecast annual production value of more than $18 billion in 2022, and provides more than 30,000 jobs across B.C.

Canadian time changes may be a thing of the past if U.S. passes 'sunshine' law

Fri, March 10, 2023



Legislation in the United States that could trigger an end to seasonal time changes in Canada is moving forward again, as Canadians get ready to wind their clocks ahead an hour before going to bed Saturday night.

Provinces have been promising for years to ditch the time change but have cited a need for consistency with U.S. states for the delays.

Now a U.S. bill to authorize the change that has been repeatedly thwarted is back in play.

Last week, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio reintroduced the Sunshine Protection Act, which would allow daylight time to be made permanent.

Rubio said in a statement that the "ritual of changing time twice a year is stupid," and that ending the practice has bipartisan support.

British Columbia Premier David Eby said Wednesday that the province's position of wanting to remain "in-sync" with west coast American states hasn't changed, but he is "very much looking forward to getting rid of daylight-saving time."

The U.S. bill, first proposed in 2018, has repeatedly failed to get through both houses of Congress. Last March, it was approved by the Senate but stalled in the House without a vote.

If the federal bill gets through, that would allow U.S. states to enact their own changes, including those cited by Canadian provinces. More than a dozen U.S. states have passed legislation that is waiting on the federal go-ahead.

In B.C., legislation was passed four years ago to allow the province to permanently stay on daylight time.

But then-premier John Horgan said the change would depend on Washington, Oregon and California doing the same. In Ontario, Premier Doug Ford has said a switch would require New York state to also ditch the time change, while Quebec Premier François Legault has said he is open to making daylight time permanent.

Eby echoed Horgan's position, saying B.C.'s close integration with U.S. states gives rise to legitimate business concerns if the province moves to a different time zone, and the need to stay aligned is the "sole reason" changes have not already been made.

"I think all of us would be delighted to see the back end of daylight-saving time," he said. "But at the same time, we want to make sure we are aligned with major trading partners' efforts."

University of British Columbia business professor Werner Antweiler said the latest version of Rubio's bill has bipartisan support and stands a much better chance of moving through the U.S. House as well as the Senate.

If that happens, a domino effect could ensue, and B.C.'s time change at 2 a.m. Sunday morning may be its last, he said.

"It looks as if the Senate is going to re-approve the bill, and the House will take it up for a vote this time around," said Antweiler, who has followed the issue closely as a researcher. "Chances are that we are not moving back to standard time in the fall."

Most provinces as well as the territories of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories will move their clocks ahead one hour early Sunday.

Yukon and most of Saskatchewan keep their clocks the same year-round. Yukon made the switch for the last time in March 2020, and standard time is now permanent.

Government officials said in 2021 the change was a relatively smooth process.

In nearby Atlin, B.C., an unincorporated community where under 500 people live just south of the Yukon border, residents have decided to join the territory rather than change their clocks with the rest of the province.

"It's been great. It's actually best for us in some ways," said Sandryne Berger, who co-owns the Mountain Shack Cafe. "At first it was dark in the morning but still light when we finish work."

Sean Boots moved to Whitehorse with his wife in October 2019 and welcomed Yukon abandoning the time change, having grown up in Saskatchewan.

"I've always thought that the daylight-saving time changes that happen in the rest of Canada were a bit of a silly idea," he said.

"I remember the first time I experienced a daylight-saving time change was when I was in Ontario for grad school and I was just like, 'What is this? This is bananas.'"

— With files from The Associated Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 10, 2023.

Chuck Chiang and Emily Blake, The Canadian Press

UEA scientists watch killer whales hunt in the Antarctic


Thu, March 9, 2023 

A pod of killer whales appeared hunting a humpback whale

Scientists from the British Antarctic Survey have described their amazement at seeing killer whales hunting from on board the RRS Sir David Attenborough.

Daisy Pickup and Dr Isabel Seguro have joined a team of 30 for two months researching the ship's science capabilities in deep polar waters.

The pair, from the University of East Anglia, have been collecting data and preparing the ship for future trips.

While on board they have also witnessed an orca pod hunting a humpback whale.

Scientists were called on deck to see the dramatic scene

"Somebody shouted 'Orcas'," said Dr Seguro. "We all ran out, very excited. We witnessed about 30 orcas, chasing a humpback whale. It was very dramatic."

"We hope the humpback got away," added Ms Pickup.

Dr Isabel Seguro is carrying out research on global warming

As well as doing their own research - taking measurements to analyse the speed of the ice melting - the pair have been helping test and prepare the RRS Sir David Attenborough's equipment for further trips for the Cambridge-based British Antarctic Survey.

"Whatever we do here is helping us set the basis for the next project," said Dr Seguro.

Daisy Pickup is part of the team preparing the RRS Sir David Attenborough for future trips

The two scientists, based in Norwich, said the team was definitely looking forward to heading home at the end of March, following many days and nights of freezing temperatures in Antarctic waters.

"We are very excited to see green again," said Ms Pickup.

The £200m RRS Sir David Attenborough is described by the British Antarctic Survey as a floating polar research laboratory AKA BOATY MCBOATFACE

"There are not a lot of trees here, so it will be really nice to see green trees.

"When all you've seen is sea for five weeks, you're ready to see a different landscape."