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Home* News and Stories → New rules: the details

New rules: the details

The­re may be more attrac­ti­ve things to talk about than going into the small print of a com­pre­hen­si­ve new set of rules, but the much-dis­cus­sed new rules will from now on deter­mi­ne whe­re we can and can­not go in Sval­bard, and much more bes­i­des. So they are important. And abo­ve all, it is clear that the­re is a lot of uncer­tain­ty and a need for cla­ri­fi­ca­ti­on. The­re are now rumours and mis­in­for­ma­ti­on cir­cu­la­ting, which I would like to coun­ter.

So there’s only one thing to do: you have to get into the details to see what it is all about. This is not only important for gui­des who need to know the facts, but also if you are won­de­ring whe­ther a trip to Spits­ber­gen will still be wort­hwhile in the future (the short ans­wer: yes).

Spitsbergen, sailing ship Meander

Spits­ber­gen under sail: still pos­si­ble, still beau­tiful. In future, espe­ci­al­ly in key regi­ons whe­re we will con­ti­nue to have free­dom of move­ment as usu­al.

Howe­ver, I won’t be doing this as part of a post that will be pushed down more and more by newer posts over time, but on a sepa­ra­te page within the ‘Spits­ber­gen infor­ma­ti­on’ sec­tion, which will remain whe­re it is. Click here to open this new page.

Rumours and non­sen­se

The fol­lo­wing is not true:

  • ‘You are only allo­wed to go ashore in 43 places on boat trips in Sval­ba­re.’ That’s rub­bish, we still have ple­nty of space for landings and hikes. Refer to the new page for fur­ther details.
  • ‘Many bird colo­nies are now clo­sed and may no lon­ger be visi­ted.’ That’s rub­bish, but the­re are speed limits in many places. Details … You can guess whe­re they are.
  • ‘You can no lon­ger see polar bears in Spits­ber­gen.’ Yes, you can, but distances app­ly (500 met­res until the end of June, 300 met­res from the begin­ning of July). Clo­se-ups are no lon­ger pos­si­ble in Sval­bard, but with bino­cu­lars and a good tele­pho­to lens, you can still have a gre­at expe­ri­ence and take some gre­at pho­tos. And this law does not app­ly at the drift ice out­side the twel­ve-mile zone.
  • ‘You are no lon­ger allo­wed to visit wal­rus colo­nies.’ Yes, you can. The mini­mum distances that are now pre­scri­bed for wal­ru­ses app­ly to boats. As soon as you are on land, you can visit wal­rus colo­nies as usu­al.
  • ‘Sval­bard is no lon­ger an inte­res­t­ing tra­vel desti­na­ti­on.’ This is wrong, Sval­bard is and remains a beau­tiful, inte­res­t­ing desti­na­ti­on with many pos­si­bi­li­ties. We still have ple­nty of space for shore excur­si­ons and hikes and we will still be able to see lots of wild­life, inclu­ding wal­ru­ses, polar bears (the lat­ter at the distances men­tio­ned abo­ve) and bird colo­nies.
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last modification: 2025-01-09 · copyright: Rolf Stange
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