MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

“Oil money won't bail us out” say Councillors.

FALKLANDS Councillors made it clear this week that if offshore oil reserves are discovered, the financial bonanza won't come soon enough to dig their budgets out of the immediate hole left by a reduced illex fishery.

Councillor Mike Summers, who chairs the Government's Standing Finance Committee, said at a public meeting on Tuesday that councillors would be planning conservatively for forthcoming budgets.

Last year's disastrous season in the illex squid fishery saw around £10 million in licence fees handed back by the Falkland Islands Government. Councillor Summers said that, although this year's budget will assume a drop in fishing licence income, he hoped there would be no need to return fees for a second season.

He warned that it would be "foolish" to bank on any future income from oil when companies were still only in the exploratory stages.

Even in the event of commercial drilling, he added, Government royalties would take time to feed into the coffers: "It's not anticipated that there will be income for the Government for a good five years after the discovery of any oil. But for the private sector, in supporting any activities that start to develop, there would be a benefit right away."

The illex fishing season started on February 15th and fisheries experts are waiting to discover how this year's catches will size up.

Sue Gyford (MP) Stanley