Argentina’s latest government’s decisions on squid fishing show that the country’s fisheries policy is inconsistent and unsustainable, according to the president of Assistance Food Argentina SA and director of Assistance Food America Inc., Dr. Cesar Augusto Lerena.
The “Gaucho Rivero” bill which bans the access of British flagged (red ensign) or convenience flagged vessels which call in the Falkland Islands remains fully in force for Ushuaia, said Marcelo Echazú, head of the Tierra del Fuego Tourism Institute, Infuetur, on announcing this year’s cruise season.
Argentina has confirmed the purchase of 16 second hand Mirage F-1 decommissioned from the Spanish Air force in an operation valued at 170 million Euros. The expenditure is contemplated in the 2014 budget bill approved in the Lower House and which awaits debate in the Senate.
Spain will not be involved in ‘joint actions’ with Argentina regarding sovereignty claims over Gibraltar and Malvinas, said on Friday Spanish Foreign minister Jose Manuel Garcia Margallo, arguing there had been ‘misinterpretations’ in the Argentine version of the bilateral ministerial meeting and which was first denied by the Moncla Palace.
The Falkland Islands Tourist Board has released statistics from last season and Managing Director Tony Mason explained that the seasonality of tourism in the Falkland Islands is quite significant, with 65.5% (nearly two-thirds) of all arrivals visiting in the first and last three months of the year (Jan-Mar and Oct- Dec) in 2012.
The Spanish government denied having agreed with Argentina on joint measures to press Great Britain for Malvinas Islands and Gibraltar sovereignty claims, as had been reported earlier on Thursday by Argentina’s foreign minister Hector Timerman, and described the UK as a friend country.
The Falkland Islands elected Legislative Assembly was dissolved on Thursday by Governor Nigel Haywood in advance of the General Election scheduled to be held on November 7.
Argentina and Spain agreed on Thursday to team up to pressure Britain to discuss their separate claims on British territories: the Falklands in the south Atlantic and Gibraltar near the southern tip of Spain.
Argentine President Cristina Fernández used Tuesday’s speech in before the UN General Assembly to once more criticize British military movements in the South Atlantic, condemning the use of nuclear submarines around the disputed Falklands/Malvinas Islands.
One of the several hydrocarbons companies operating in Falkland Islands waters expects its next drilling phase to begin in the fourth quarter of 2014 with a minimum of two exploration wells following extensive 3D surveying of southern licences in the Diomedea fan complex adjacent to the Darwin discovery.