South Georgia – paradise reclaimed?

Isolated islands are nature’s natural laboratories, where both the threats and positive effects of human impact on the environment are visible as if by hand. South Georgia, the largest island in the Subantarctic, is a natural refuge for millions of birds and marine mammals, and the local waters attract whales, mainly oceanic long-finned whales. The island itself and its surrounding waters are strictly protected, but until a few decades ago there was talk of an ecological disaster here. What led to it? How has nature recovered and what threats might the future bring?

Photo: the British Antarctic Survey station at King Edward’s Bay, with the buildings of the former Grytviken whaling station in the background.