Rules for Antarctic Tours to Be Tightened, Requiring Tour Operators Take Responsibility for Cleanup After Accidents

The Yomiuri Shimbun

20:00 JST, April 4, 2026

The Environment Ministry plans to strengthen the rules covering Japanese tourist boats in the Antarctic region in the event of accidents such as major oil leaks.

The ministry intends to require the travel agency that planned the trip to clean up spilled oil and notify the government of the accident.

Tourism to Antarctica has surged in recent years, and there is a growing need for international rules to prevent environmental pollution in the area. The government hopes that strengthening its domestic rules will enable Japan to stand at the forefront of international discussions regarding the protection of Antarctica’s environment.

The ministry plans to submit a bill to revise the Law relating to Protection of the Environment in Antarctica, which stipulates rules for conducting activities on the continent, during the current Diet session.

According to the bill approved by the Cabinet on Friday, if a Japanese sightseeing boat causes an accident in the Antarctic region at 60 degrees south or further south, the organizer of the tour will be required to clean up any leaked oil and implement urgent measures to mitigate the impact on the environment.

Additionally, the organizer will be required to compile an emergency response plan in advance and notify the environment minister if an accident occurs. If an accident causes extensive contamination requiring the central government to step in and assume responsibility for oil recovery efforts and cleaning wildlife contaminated by oil, the state will be able to charge the organizer for costs incurred.

The rules will apply to sightseeing boats, research vessels, aircraft, snowmobiles and other vehicles.

The beefed-up rules come against a backdrop of an Antarctica tourism boom. In recent years, improved ship performance and other factors have driven a surge in sightseeing tours to observe penguins and icebergs. According to the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators, about 80,000 tourists went ashore on the continent during the tourist season that ran from the latter half of 2024 to early 2025. This was about four times as many tourists that did so in the 2010-11 season.

Grounded ships and crashed aircraft have previously caused numerous oil spills in Antarctica. However, there are no international rules covering the legal responsibility for environmental contamination in such cases.

In 2005, a consultative meeting held among nations that conduct scientific research in Antarctica adopted Annex VI to the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty, which stipulates liability arising from such situations.

However, many nations did not sign on because restrictions would be imposed on certain activities, so the annex has not come into effect.

Japan is among the nations that have not signed. Despite this, the government intends to announce a plan to sign when the next Antarctic Treaty Consultive Meeting is held in Hiroshima in May, as host of the meeting. The government has decided to establish a domestic legal framework ahead of the setting of international rules on the issue.