Byers Peninsula
Byers Peninsula is a mainly ice-free peninsula forming the west end of Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. It occupies 60 km2 (23 sq mi), and includes the small freshwater Basalt Lake. Byers Peninsula has a regime of special environmental protection under the Antarctic Treaty System and requires a permit to enter.
The feature was named by the UK Antarctic Place-names Committee in 1958 for James Byers, a New York shipowner who tried unsuccessfully in August 1820 to induce the United States Government to found a settlement in and take possession of the South Shetland Islands. Byers organized and sent out a fleet of American sealers from New York to the South Shetland Islands in 1820–21. It was visited by early 19th century American and British sealers who came almost exclusively from New England, New York and England. They operated on President Beaches, Robbery Beaches and South Beaches, and built dwellings and shelter such as those still preserved at Sealer Hill and Lair Point.
The peninsula has been designated an Antarctic Specially Protected Area (ASPA 126) for, as well as its birdlife, several additional scientific and historical values. It has diverse and well-developed vegetation, numerous lakes and freshwater pools which support the restricted-range insects Parochlus steinenii and Belgica antarctica, and well-preserved sub-fossil whale bones in raised beaches. It also has the greatest concentration of historical sites in Antarctica, containing the remains of refuges, with their contemporary artefacts, and shipwrecks of early 19th century sealing expeditions. The eastern boundary of the protected area was shifted eastwards to 60º53'45"W in 2016 to include besides Byers Peninsula also all ice-free ground and ice sheet west of Clark Nunatak and Rowe Point. Two restricted zones have been designated that are of scientific importance to Antarctic microbiology with greater restriction placed on access with the aim of preventing microbial or other contamination by human activity: Northwestern Rotch Dome and adjacent deglaciated ground on Ivanov Beach, and Ray Promontory.
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