Com­pul­so­ry pilo­ta­ge will from now on be intro­du­ced in Spitsbergen’s coas­tal waters. First legal steps have been made on July 01. Coal freigh­ters will from now on have to have pilots on board for the pas­sa­ge in to the Nor­we­gi­an coal mining sett­le­ment Sveagru­va. Fur­ther legal steps will fol­low until the law is ful­ly in for­ce in 2014. All ships lon­ger than 150 metres will then have to have a pilot on board.

Cap­tains and nau­ti­cal offi­cers with local expe­ri­ence on smal­ler pas­sen­ger ships can get a so-cal­led fair­way cer­ti­fi­ca­te which will enab­le them to sail without pilot. It was fea­red that regu­la­ti­ons for the­se cer­ti­fi­ca­tes would make it prac­ti­cal­ly impos­si­ble for even the most expe­ri­en­ced cap­tains to obtain such cer­ti­fi­ca­tes, but it has been announ­ced that impro­ve­ments will be made to adjust important details to local con­di­ti­ons.

A litt­le geo­lo­gi­cal gui­de­book about the Lon­gye­ar­by­en area has now been publis­hed and will be offi­cial­ly pre­sen­ted on 30 June in the Sval­bard­mu­se­um in Lon­gye­ar­by­en. Earth histo­ry from the days of the dino­saurs through the coal age and more recent land­s­cape-forming pro­ces­ses inclu­ding gla­ciers and per­ma­frost are brief­ly exp­lai­ned on 36 pages.

Aut­hors are Kars­ten Piep­john (Bun­des­an­stalt für Geo­wis­sen­schaf­ten und Roh­stof­fe), Mal­te Joch­mann (Store Nor­ske Spits­ber­gen Kull­kom­pa­ni) and Rolf Stan­ge (amongst others owner of this web­site). Chris­tia­ne Hüb­ner (Lon­gye­ar­by­en Feltbio­lo­gis­ke Fore­ning) is the edi­tor of the book­let, which is avail­ab­le in Eng­lish, Nor­we­gi­an and Ger­man.

All aut­hors will be pre­sent during the offi­cial pre­sen­ta­ti­on, which will inclu­de a litt­le excur­si­on. Ever­y­bo­dy who hap­pens to be in Lon­gye­ar­by­en on June 30 is wel­co­me. No pro­blem if you are not the­re: the book­let will soon be avail­ab­le on this web­site.

Source: Mor­ten Jør­gen­sen (fel­low expe­di­ti­on lea­der col­league)