The Falkland Islands Government Committee system will have a new addition and that is the Maritime committee, and is forecasted to function broadly along the lines of the fisheries committee has been confirmed.
Last week there was intense diplomatic activity regarding the Falkland Islands: the meeting of the Fisheries Subcommittee to be held in Buenos Aires on Monday 20 was suspended; the ambassadors before Great Britain and before the international organizations in Geneva, Renato Sersale di Cerisano and Carlos Foradori, were displaced and the secretary of Matters Related to the Falkland Islands, Daniel Filmus, made his presentation in New York in the Decolonization Committee, urging that a negotiation instance be promoted from the UN.
The elected government of the Falkland Islands reported on Friday that the Scientific Sub Committee of the South Atlantic Fisheries Commission met in Buenos Aires on 17 and 18 July 2019. The SAFC was first established in 1990 and this was the third meeting to take place since the reestablishment of regular meetings in 2018.
The Illex squid fishery season starts on February 14 and 105 licenses have been offered confirmed Director of Natural Resources John Barton. He added: “Not all vessels which applied received licenses. The number of licenses offered is the same as the last few years.”
Next February first and after fourteen years Argentina and the United Kingdom will again be involved in a scientific assessment cruise of the Illex squid in the South Atlantic.
London hosted the biannual meeting of the South Atlantic Fisheries Scientific Sub Committee which took place November 14/15 with the participation of officials and scientists from Argentina and the UK, and from the Falkland Islands.
Next Monday, 14 May 2018 four representatives from the Falkland Islands Government’s Natural Resources Department will be part of a UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office lead delegation meeting with the Government of Argentina, in Buenos Aires, to begin two days of discussions on fish and squid stocks in the South Atlantic, and the possibility of resuming the exchange of scientific fisheries data for the benefit of the region.
Falkland Islands catches of Illex squid surpassed this week the previous record annual catch by 2,022 tons. That record was 266,201 tons in 1999 and Director of Natural Resources John Barton reported midmorning on Thursday that the 2014 catch had just has just overtaken that at 268,223 tons.
The Falkland Islands Government has welcomed the announcement by the Senate of Argentina of the establishment of a Marine Protected Area (MPA) within the area of Burdwood Bank which lies within the Argentine Economic Zone, describing it as a “positive step” in the interest of marine conservation and fisheries management.
There can be no negotiations on the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands unless and until such time as the Islanders so wish was the official reply from the UK to remarks made by Argentine president Cristina Fernandez during her speech on Tuesday before the UN General Assembly.