One of the clauses in the Treaty ensures that members can inspect each other's stations and operations at any time to see if the rules are being followed. So it came to be that we were informed half a day in advance that Palmer was going to get a visit from the British HMS Protector bringing with it an international delegation of inspectors. And to my surprise, one them being a Dutch representative.
The Netherlands has been a member since 1967 and became a voting member in 1990. I never realized it, but the Netherlands has an equivalent to the National Science Foundation which is called the Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek or NWO which is part of the Nederlands Polair Programma. We don't have our own station, but as of this year we have a number of labs stationed at the British station Rothera. Link in English Link in Dutch
The station manager provided the inspection team with the documents and drawings they requested, after which they did a tour of the station and spoke to some members of our Facilities crew and Waste Management. I think that overall they were quite impressed with our facilities and advanced labs, especially compared to some of the stations that they visited earlier. Some of them apparently resembled no more than just a presence on the continent than a place where science was being conducted. They had already visited some 10 stations before coming here and had several more planned for the remainder of their journey, but when a French yacht arrived and anchored near our station, they too were treated to an inspection to see if all their permits and equipment were in order.
Busy people those inspectors.
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| The HMS Protector. |
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| The French yacht being inspected. |
