Falkland Islands Government Research Articles

Tracing young people's engagements with the diplomacy and geopolitics of a British Overseas Territory

AbstractResearch from political geographers has increasingly identified the diverse actors, practices, and performances of diplomacy, challenging narrow conceptions that had tended to associate them with the state alone. The following paper engages this plurality directly through, on the one hand, its focus on young people as diplomatic actors and, on the other, the diplomacy of a British Overseas Territory (OT)—the Falkland Islands—a polity characterised by its liminal subjectivity between colonial dependency and independent statehood. In 2022, to mark the 40th anniversary of the Falklands War, we partnered with the Falkland Islands Government Office (FIGO) in London, to design, deliver and evaluate a national schools' competition. The Falklands Forty Schools Competition (FFSC) culminated in an eight‐day trip to the Islands for seven prize winners. The paper reflects on our role in co‐organising the competition and the opportunities it afforded to observe young people probe and critically question the official narratives presented to them by government representatives. This offered us the opportunity to explore how geopolitical and diplomatic narratives can be projected, negotiated and challenged by young people in the context of a highly curated trip with narrative projection at its heart. We show how young people through their participation in the competition and, more specifically, a trip to the Falkland Islands, were able to identify slippages and inconsistencies in these ‘stable’ narratives related to governance of the Islands. The young people, far from being passive diplomatic ‘delegates’ unquestioningly imbibing the information presented to them were, instead, highly aware of narrative tipping‐points, tensions and slippages in their engagements with government representatives and diplomats.

The 40th anniversary of the Falklands War: a dialogue

ABSTRACT 2022 marks the 40th anniversary of the Falklands War. This significant milestone will be commemorated with a plethora of events in the Falkland Islands, Argentina, and the UK. One of these, the Falklands Forty Schools Competition, funded by the Falkland Islands Government, will see a national competition for young people (aged 16–18 years) in the UK that will encourage them to consider why the Falkland Islands matter today. With the editorial assistance of Professor Peter Clegg and Dr Kate Matheson, The Round Table gathered several of those involved in organising the competition to discuss remembrance of the Falklands War at this historical juncture. The dialogue below involves three scholars (an historian and two political geographers), two Falkland Islanders of different generations and the Deputy Representative of the Falkland Islands in the UK (FIGO). They conducted their discussion by email over the autumn of 2021. Each of the contributors writes in a personal capacity aside from Michael Betts who writes in his role as Deputy Representative of FIGO.

Industry-collaborative mesh trials to reduce bycatch in the Falkland Islands skate trawl fishery (Southwest Atlantic)

AbstractThe Falkland Islands conduct one of the few targeted skate fisheries in the world with total annual catches of several thousand tonnes. This bottom trawl fishery is characterized by relatively low catch volumes and product yield that challenge commercial profitability. Recently, one Falkland Islands fishing company acquired a large proportion of the skate ITQ, and to optimise its fishing operations, proposed a research collaboration with the Falkland Islands Fisheries Department for assessing the performance of trawls equipped with either standard 110 mm codend mesh, or larger 300 and 400 mm meshes. The results of the trial confirmed the efficiency of larger mesh codends to decrease finfish bycatch by 97–98%. Additionally, trawls with 400 mm mesh significantly decreased the bycatch of commercially valueless small skates that would experience high discard mortality. As a result of the trial, the Falkland Islands Government implemented a regulatory licence condition of 400 mm codend mesh for targeted skate fishing. Besides greater production efficiency, vessel operators are incentivized by possible wider access throughout the fishing zone. Further initiatives are anticipated to develop management measures by individual species, continue improving conservation through bycatch mitigation in all fisheries, and diversify Falklands skate products in global markets.

Interactions between seabirds and pelagic squid‐jigging vessels in the south‐west Atlantic

Abstract The waters of the Patagonian Shelf in the south‐west Atlantic are nutrient rich, support large concentrations of wildlife, and are exploited by several fisheries, including the large Asian squid‐jigging fishery. Although the squid‐jigging fishery has previously been observed to have few problems with the accidental mortality of seabirds, the deliberate catch for consumption of seabirds by the crew has been identified as a possible issue. Four cruises were made between Uruguay and the Falkland Islands during 2005–2006 to quantify the impact of jiggers on seabirds from indirect observation platforms. Monitoring included closely approaching 116 jigging vessels and boarding seven for inspection. The use of non‐jigging fishing gear, either for catching fish or seabirds, was observed at the stern of 33 vessels. Twelve seabird carcasses were observed floating close to vessels during 13 days of monitoring. Although the results recorded here are not sufficient to put a confident estimate on the magnitude of this mortality, the density of carcasses floating in the water among the jigging fleet indicated the potential significance of this problem. The results were considered sufficiently concerning for the Falkland Islands Government to take preventative actions, including educational efforts, improving humanitarian conditions onboard vessels, introducing relevant legislation and licence conditions, and prosecuting intentional seabird take inside the Falkland Islands jurisdiction. This has resulted in the apparent elimination of these mortalities within Falkland waters since the late 2000s. Nevertheless, it is likely that the same initial conditions exist for the crews of squid jiggers on vessels operating on the high seas, and so the possibility of the targeting of seabirds for consumption continues. Squid fisheries with substantial numbers of jiggers overlap with important foraging areas for a range of albatross and other species in high‐seas areas such as the Patagonian Shelf, the Humboldt and Kuroshio currents, and the south‐west Pacific Ocean. These areas of overlap may be important to investigate, especially in the foraging grounds of declining seabirds.

Everyday invasions: Fuckland, geopolitics, and the (re)production of insecurity in the Falkland Islands

Academic and popular debates examining the geopolitics of the Falklands Islands/Islas Malvinas have focused overwhelming attention on the 1982 war and its aftermath in ways that foreground (in)security in predominantly militaristic terms. Notwithstanding these tendencies, this paper seeks to think through another example of ‘invasion’ of the Falkland Islands that has been important in provoking and sustaining insecurity among Islanders. The film Fuckland (2000), directed by José Luis Marqués, was shot covertly in the Falklands without the consent of Falkland Islanders who unwittingly star in it. By examining the scales, sites, practices and shifting temporalities of Fuckland, as well as the everyday insecurities it (re)produces, we show how the bodies, homes and community of Falkland Islanders have been territorialised in the Argentine geopolitical imagination, and therefore subject to modes of violence. Fuckland also exposes the enmeshing of practical, popular and everyday geopolitics in productive ways that allow us to address popular geopolitics’ approaches to ‘the cinematic’ (and other media). Rather than treating Fuckland’s production and consumption as distinctive temporal moments, we seek to account for how film can linger and reverberate in often subtle and sinister ways long after fading from mainstream public attention. We position the film as a lively geopolitical object with ongoing emotional and other effects/affects that have the potential to ‘feed back’ into practical/everyday geopolitical and diplomatic relations. Examining these kinds of events can be useful in understanding why the Falkland Islands Government (and the Islanders themselves) continue to be so cautious in their management of contemporary diplomatic relations with Argentina.

Tracking penguins, sensing petroleum: “Data gaps” and the politics of marine ecology in the South Atlantic

Drawing on ethnographic research in the Falkland Islands (Malvinas), this paper analyzes how disputed oil interests become embedded in data infrastructures for environmental governance. Nearly four decades after a war that cemented the South Atlantic archipelago’s British status, offshore oil discoveries have led Argentina's government to renew its sovereignty claim, arguing that the islands are within its waters. Nonetheless, the British Falkland Islands Government (FIG) has licensed unilateral drilling. Centering on a “data gap” project, financed by the FIG and its oil licensees, the article describes how marine ecologists tag penguins with tracking sensors, as part of a new geographic data infrastructure for the South Atlantic. Data representing penguin foraging are supposed to feed into environmental impact assessments for oil exploration. The article demonstrates how these data and confidence ratings in environmental impact statements reinforce access to and control over maritime territory and resources. Extending recent claims that data have become key actors within environmental governance networks, this research finds that particular data practices may actually enhance fossil fuel industry interests through measures of transparency, leaving ambiguous matters related to transboundary impacts and local pollution unresolved.

Potential Impacts of Climate Change on Native Plant Distributions in the Falkland Islands.

The Falkland Islands are predicted to experience up to 2.2°C rise in mean annual temperature over the coming century, greater than four times the rate over the last century. Our study investigates likely vulnerabilities of a suite of range-restricted species whose distributions are associated with archipelago-wide climatic variation. We used present day climate maps calibrated using local weather data, 2020–2080 climate predictions from regional climate models, non-climate variables derived from a digital terrain model and a comprehensive database on local plant distributions. Weighted mean ensemble models were produced to assess changes in range sizes and overlaps between the current range and protected areas network. Target species included three globally threatened Falkland endemics, Nassauvia falklandica, Nastanthus falklandicus and Plantago moorei; and two nationally threatened species, Acaena antarctica and Blechnum cordatum. Our research demonstrates that temperature increases predicted for the next century have the potential to significantly alter plant distributions across the Falklands. Upland species, in particular, were found to be highly vulnerable to climate change impacts. No known locations of target upland species or the southwestern species Plantago moorei are predicted to remain environmentally suitable in the face of predicted climate change. We identify potential refugia for these species and associated gaps in the current protected areas network. Species currently restricted to the milder western parts of the archipelago are broadly predicted to expand their ranges under warmer temperatures. Our results emphasise the importance of implementing suitable adaptation strategies to offset climate change impacts, particularly site management. There is an urgent need for long-term monitoring and artificial warming experiments; the results of this study will inform the selection of the most suitable locations for these. Results are also helping inform management recommendations for the Falkland Islands Government who seek to better conserve their biodiversity and meet commitments to multi-lateral environmental agreements.

Practice manager in the South Atlantic

Sarah Bowles began work with the Falkland Islands Government Department of Agriculture in 1998 as an agricultural assistant, before moving to the veterinary section to become practice manager/animal nurse

Consolidate! Britain, the Falkland Islands and wider the South Atlantic/Antarctic

On the Falklands question, David Cameron has been the most robust British Prime Minister since the late Margaret Thatcher. He has accused the Argentine government led by President Christina Kirchner of being ‘colonial like’ in its campaign to ‘recover’ the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas). This article teases out two aspects of the current UK policy towards the Falklands and wider region: first, the Falklands are increasingly imagined as a strategic ‘gateway’ to the wider region including Antarctica. Resource interests do play a major role in this geographical imagination and in a post- Afghanistan era, there might be additional UK military capacity to support the UK presence. Second, the Coalition government is, more than ever, determined to promote and protect the ‘wishes’ of the Falkland Islands community to self-determine their own future. This has, in turn, given added confidence to the Falkland Islands Government (FIG) to organize a referendum in March 2013. There is going to be no return to a more co-operative period in the late 1990s; consolidate is the new watch word.

Getting Under the Skin: Autonomous Implantation of Squid Spermatophores

Previous articleNext article No AccessRapid CommunicationsGetting Under the Skin: Autonomous Implantation of Squid SpermatophoresH. J. T. Hoving and V. LaptikhovskyH. J. T. Hoving1. University of Groningen, CEES, Department of Marine Biology, P.O. Box 14, 9750 AA Haren, The Netherlands Search for more articles by this author and V. Laptikhovsky2. Falkland Islands Government Fisheries Department (FIFD), P.O. Box 598, Stanley, Falkland Islands Search for more articles by this author Received 1 December 2006; accepted 4 March 2007.PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Biological Bulletin Volume 212, Number 3June 2007 Published in association with the Marine Biological Laboratory Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.2307/25066599 Views: 144Total views on this site Citations: 1Citations are reported from Crossref PDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:H. J. T. Hoving and M. Vecchione Mating Behavior of a Deep-Sea Squid Revealed by in situ Videography and the Study of Archived Specimens, The Biological Bulletin 223, no.33 (Sep 2016): 263–267.https://doi.org/10.1086/BBLv223n3p263

Balancing local ownership with foreign investment in a small island fishery

The Falkland Islands Government has established a transferable rights management regime for its fisheries resources. The allocation of transferable rights has to be sensitive to economic and social considerations specific to the Falkland Islands. One critical requirement is the need to balance local ownership and control with the need for direct foreign investment and the continued involvement of foreign fishing fleets in the territory's fisheries. Several mechanisms to achieve this balance are contained in recent fisheries legislation. These mechanisms will be of interest to other small island territories facing similar challenges in their commercial fisheries.

The enigma of guanacos in the Falkland Islands: the legacy of John Hamilton

AbstractAim To address the biogeographical enigma of why guanacos (Lama guanicoe) are in the Falkland Islands we investigated the following questions: (1) What was the origin of the introduced guanacos? (2) What were the initial population sizes? (3) Why are they found only on one island? and (4) Who was John Hamilton and what role did he play?Location The Falkland Islands are located in the South Atlantic Ocean 600 km east of Patagonia at the southern end of South America. While dominated by East and West Falkland Islands, the archipelago is composed of some 750 islands. Sedge and Staats Islands, two small outlying islands of West Falkland, are the focus of this paper.Methods Historical information was collected from known relevant documents housed at the Falkland Islands Government Archives in Stanley, and personal interviews conducted with past and present residents of West Falklands. Research expeditions were made to Staats Island in 1999, 2002 and 2003 to assess the guanaco population size, distribution and social structure.Results Guanacos were unsuccessfully introduced in 1862 to East Falkland south of Mt Pleasant where Prince Alfred hunted them in 1871. John Hamilton, Scottish immigrant to the Falklands and Patagonia of southern Argentina and Chile, was the driving force in the introduction of guanacos from the region of Rio Gallegos, Argentina during the 1930s. The guanaco was one of several wildlife species he introduced, however, only the guanaco, Patagonia grey fox (Dusicyon griseus) and perhaps the sea otter (Lutra felina) survive. Hamilton's acting agent, Jimmy Miller, imported four shipments totalling 26 guanacos from 1934 to 1939. In 1934 the Falkland Government authorized Miller to introduce guanacos to Sedge Island, all 11 of which disappeared. Whether intentional or accidental, 15 guanacos were taken to Staats Island, an islet of 500 ha on the western edge of the archipelago. Historically, guanacos are unexpected on Staats Island because documentation authorizing their introduction is unknown. Guanaco numbers have fluctuated widely on Staats Island for 65 years primarily due to culling. In 1959 the population was dangerously close to extirpation, but today 400 thrive there. A severely reduced gene pool and genetic bottlenecking were suggested by recent field studies, revealing preliminary evidence of deleterious consequences of inbreeding.Main conclusions John Hamilton, spirited and visionary Scottish immigrant to the Falklands in the early 1880s, was responsible for the introduction of guanacos into the Falkland Islands. While there are some gaps in the historical events, the enigma of how and why guanacos were introduced to a single island in the South Atlantic Ocean is understood. Today, Staats Island, as a closed system, is a rare natural experiment in progress. It offers unique opportunities for addressing advanced questions in ungulate population, behavioural and genetic ecology. The population potentially also represents breeding stock for farming the guanaco's highly valuable wool on other islands. Thus, among his many efforts to practice land stewardship and promote economic diversity through the introduction of Patagonian wildlife, a remaining legacy of John Hamilton to the Falkland Islands is unmistakably the guanacos of Staats Island.

Marine debris surveys at Volunteer Beach, Falkland Islands, during the summer of 2001/02

This survey evaluated the monthly accumulation rate of marine debris and the types of objects washed ashore at Volunteer Beach on East Falkland between October 2001 and March 2002. The mean (±SD) accumulation rate of marine debris was 77 ± 25 items/km/month, of a mean weight of 17.3 ± 12 kg. Forty different objects were collected and the five most frequent items were cotton fabric, string, polystyrene packing sheet, plastic packing tape and broken plastic pieces. The debris on Volunteer Beach was dominated by fishing debris; 42% of the items were discarded fishing equipment, while 39% of the items were of a packaging or associated nature. The mostly likely source of this household waste was fishing vessels, with Falkland Islands Government (FIG) fisheries observers seeing 27 of the 40 items of debris collected from Volunteer Beach being discarded from fishing vessels. It is suggested that, although further marine debris research is warranted, more effective at-sea ship waste disposal regulations are required in Falkland waters to reduce environmental and economic threats both at the local and international level.

Government perspective, statutory protection and the direction of future research and co‐operation in the context of the marine environment

1. The Falkland Islands Government is proud of the successful development of its commercial fishery and sees no reason why it should not continue to be managed in a responsible and sustainable way. However, it recognizes that the fishery is vulnerable to over-fishing, changes in the migration patterns of the principal commercial species and the health of world markets. 2. To widen its economic base, the Falkland Islands Government is seeking to promote farm diversification and eco-tourism, to further develop its commercial fishery, and to encourage offshore oil exploration and development in areas under its jurisdiction. 3. It recognizes the value and importance of its wildlife populations and habitats but sees no reason why economic development and environmental protection should be mutually exclusive, provided that suitable measures are adopted to control development and protect the environment, a precautionary approach is applied, all potential risks to the environment are carefully assessed and remedial measures taken to avoid or minimize any adverse impacts. Extensive new legislation has already been enacted, baseline survey work undertaken and further environmental research commissioned. 4. The Government accepts that additional wildlife habitats and populations need to be afforded environmental protection through designation as National Nature Reserves (NNR) and Marine Nature Reserves (MNR) and thereafter managed effectively. It recognizes that much more environmental research needs to be carried out and, to that end, is willing to seek expert guidance on the future direction of that research, to co-operate with other governments or organisations in the carrying out of that research and to contribute financially to further environmental research in and around the Falkland Islands. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Overview of petroleum geology, oil exploration and associated environmental protection around the Falkland Islands

1. The Falkland Islands offshore exploration area contains several Mesozoic basins with the potential for oil development. Exploration of all of these basins is at a very early stage. 2. The only area to have undergone exploratory drilling so far is the North Falkland Basin, where six wells were drilled in 1998. These wells proved the presence of a rich organic source-rock, which has probably generated significant quantities of oil. However, all six wells targeted a limited number of exploration concepts, and none found commercial quantities of hydrocarbons. Post-drilling analysis of the well data suggests that commercial quantities of oil may be found in other parts of the basin. 3. The exploration to date has been conducted in tandem with an extensive and detailed environmental assessment of the region, funded largely by the oil companies and the Falkland Islands Government. 4. The natural environment of the Falklands is important as a resource as well as providing an unspoilt habitat. Detailed legislation and planning controls were put in place before exploration started in order to protect the environment. Copyright © 2002 NERC

Letters

The oxygen of publicity From Mike Bingham, Falkland Islands Falklands fight back From Sukey Cameron, Falkland Islands Government UK Representative First count your penguins From Ann Brown, UK Secretary, Falklands Conservation

Co-Operative Planning Approach: A South-West Atlantic Frontier Exploration Area

ABSTRACT Oil industry alliances bring benefits in various fields, including emergency planning. The benefits will include consistency in oil spill response plans and procedures, plus potential cost savings. Government, organisations and groups involved will appreciate a single and comprehensive consultative process. Time and money will be saved, plan formats will be consistent and there will be less scope for confusion. Partnership building will be stronger and more effective. This paper will use a case study of cooperative oil spill contingency planning in the south-west Atlantic to illustrate these points. The Falkland Islands archipelago lies in the south-west Atlantic, approximately 400 km east of the tip of the South American mainland. In 1996 the Falkland Islands Government (FIG) undertook its first round of oil exploration licensing and awarded acreage. Four of the successful operating companies formed the Falklands Operators Sharing Agreement (FOSA). This co-operation extended to a number of areas, including a joint approach to oil spill contingency planning. Oil Spill Response Limited (OSRL) worked with FOSA to produce a generic oil spill contingency plan, to function for all the companies and differ only in its emergency contact section. The contingency planning process closely followed the guidelines promulgated by the International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association (IPIECA, 1991) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO, 1995). A key factor was liaison with groups on the Islands and interfacing with the new Falkland Islands national oil spill contingency plan, which this paper will introduce.

Towards resolving multiple recruitment into loliginid fisheries:Loligo gahiin the Falkland Islands fishery

Data on size structure and maturity of the commercially exploited Loligo gahi population in Falkland Island waters were collected by the Fisheries Department of the Falkland Islands Government for the years 1987–1991. Three methods were used to define the number of broods of squid recruiting to the commercial fishery each year. The three methods combined, using monthly data on mean size for each maturity stage, the relative proportions of each maturity stage in the population, and an application of the software package “MIX”, demonstrated that at least two, and more usually three, broods of squid recruit to the fishery each year. Squid recruit in February, April/May, and August/September. The data also showed that there are nearly always two broods present in the first commercial fishing season and usually two broods present in the second season, with overlap of the April/May recruits from the first to the second fishing season.

The first South Georgia leases: Compañia Argentina de Pesca and the South Georgia Exploring Company Limited

South Georgia, at present governed as a Dependency of the Falkland Islands, has an interesting history of human activity extending back nearly two centuries. The sealers who visited the island in considerable numbers in the 18th and 19th centuries (Jones, 1973) almost certainly left gangs of men on the island for considerable periods, but not until the 20th century were permanent settlements established there. Published accounts of the initial stages of this colonisation (Matthews, 1931; Christie, 1951) contain various important errors, and give only the simplest outline of an interesting political problem. A more accurate account of some of these events has recently been published (Tonnessen and Johnsen, 1982). Material preserved in the Falkland Islands Government's (FIG) archives at Port Stanley has allowed a detailed account to be built up of this important period of South Georgia's history.

The Expedition of the R. R. S. Discovery

THE Royal Research Ship Discovery, which is J. leaving England at the end of the present month, will be engaged for the next two years in oceanographical investigations in the South Atlantic and Antarctic. The ship, which is barque-rigged with auxiliary steam, was built in 1901 for the late Captain Sir Robert Falcon Scott, and was acquired on behalf of the Falkland Islands Government for the purpose of the present in vestigations in 1923. During the last eighteen months she has undergone extensive repairs, and changes have been made in her masting and sail-plan in accordance with experience obtained by Capt. Scott. She has been refitted throughout, and is now completely equipped for the investigations for which she is intended.