The Journal of Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom (*) has this month released a special issue focussing on Ascension Island’s marine biodiversity. Falklands' based SAERI Director Dr Paul Brickle explained that 20 papers reported on the results of 202 sampling events, comprising a mixture of quantitative SCUBA surveys involving belt transects for fish and mobile fauna and quadrat photography for sessile fauna.
A leading Montserrat official is visiting the Falkland Islands for a week as part of a Territory to Territory partnership initiative between the two islands that was initiated last year. The Caribbean island British Overseas Territory Minister of Agriculture, Trade, Lands, Housing, and Environment, Claude E.S. Hogan arrived on the Falklands on the 7th August 2017.
Falkland Islanders are being asked to comment on proposals to recommend three Marine Management Areas (MMAs) to the Falkland Islands Government (FIG). These areas include some of the Falklands most pristine and vulnerable marine environments such as around Beauchêne Island and the Jason Islands archipelago, and include globally important populations of the Black-Browed Albatross and the Rockhopper penguin.
Honduras and UK South Atlantic British Overseas Territories, mainly Falkland Islands are to share scientific experiences and develop potential projects that could enhance the Central American country's management of its marine coastal resources. With this purpose the Director of the South Atlantic Environmental Research Institute (SAERI), Dr Paul Brickle, visited Roatán and Tegucigalpa last week.
UK Overseas Territories governments of the Falkland Islands and Montserrat have signed an agreement that facilitates a Territory to Territory partnership with the purpose of transferring knowledge and skills from the South Atlantic and the Caribbean. The skills and knowledge transfer will focus on information management and marine spatial planning.
Falkland Islands fishing company Fortuna Ltd has become a sponsor and research partner in a PhD student ship on southern blue whiting. The Falkland Islands Government fisheries Department (FIFD) and the South Atlantic Environmental Research Institute (SAERI) are also collaborators in this research project.
Georgia Seafood is sponsoring pioneering research into the reproductive behaviour of the Patagonian Toothfish in South Georgia. Director of Georgia Seafood Stuart Wallace explained that in a market that demands sustainability it is important to the company that they support the science underpinning that aim.
The South Atlantic Environmental Research Institute (SAERI) announced a new program: the South Atlantic Information Management System and GIS Centre, which officially brings together the UK South Atlantic Overseas Territories in SAERI’s South Atlantic scope that ranges from the equator down to the ice. The Centre is funded by the FCO via the UK’s Joint Nature Conservation Committee.
Argentina contributes for the destruction of the species Southern Blue Whiting in the South West Atlantic claim Falkland Islands Fisheries Department scientists and fishing company executives.