S.Atlantic : Sartma Daily (12/12/05)
Submitted by SARTMA.com (Juanita Brock) 13.12.2005 (Article Archived on 20.12.2005)
A brief run-down of South Atlantic news
SARTMA DAILY (12/12/05)
Compiled by J. Brock (FINN)
CONTENTS:
Section 1: Articles by FINN and SARTMA
Section 2: Police News
Section 3 Committee News
Section 4: Falkland Wool Growers Report
Section 5: Announcements
Section 1:
EXCELLENT SAILING WEATHER FOR RESUMED REGATTA
By J. Brock (FINN)
Cloudy weather with a bit of a breeze greeted sailors who entered the resumed Stanley Regatta on Saturday morning. Though only three people had registered there were more on the day. HMS Dumbarton Castle and a few other boats lent a hand with the organisation of the race, with the Seamen’s Mission providing a BBQ.
At 1000 there was a brief about the course by John Barton, with jock Elliot providing the commentary for everyone. The sailing actually began around noon, with the races lasting until nearly 1700hrs.
The dinghy race was won by the team of David Barton and Shaun May. Second was Julian Barton and Adam Cockwell and the FIDF coming in 3rd.
The Pirate Boat race was also won by Shaun May and David Barton. Canoes were raced and DRTim Reid and Stanley Cheeseman were tops. Orienteering was win by the Barton Mirror, followed by Hugh Botterell and Will King in 3rd place.
The prize giving was held at the narrows bar at 2000 hrs. Steve Dent will be producing a full report in due course. Photographs are on the Sartma.Com website and on falklandnews.com.
GIRL GUIDES BRING THE SOUND OF CHRISTMAS TO STANLEY
By J. Brock (FINN)
Jolly sounds of Christmas music augmented by guitar music from Gordon Peck and Ian Goss wafted through Stanley between 1400 and 1600 on Saturday The carols began at the West Store, the POD Gift Shop, Gallery Car-Park, and then the group, all dressed in their most fancy Christmas gear moved on to the Stanley House Hostel, Followed by a stint in the Sheltered Garden at the KEMH.
A stop fur mulled wine and mince pies were enjoyed on Victory Green to round the session off. There was more singing at Victory Green before everyone went merrily on their ways.
Thanks to Stanley Services the mobile band, complete with Santa were carried around on a flat bed truck. There were plenty of Santa’s helpers around to collect money for the Girl Guide Association.
DR WALTON SETS THE RECORD STRAIGHT ABOUT KRILL EXPLOITATION AND OIL EXPLORATION IN ANTARCTIC WATERS
By J. Brock (SARTMA)
Dr David Walton (DW), Chief Scientist at British Antarctic Survey is in the Antarctic initiating another five-year plan for the Research Bases that provide Antarctic science to all of us. On Tuesday, 29 November 2005 Dr. Walton gave a lecture about the five-year programme and a brief overview of the science in the Geography room of the FICS.
On the following day SARTMA was able to interview Dr. Walton about two areas of concern. One is the ban on oil exploration in the Weddell Sea and the other is whether or not Krill should be taken commercially.
SARTMA: You mentioned in your lecture that there would be no oil exploration in the Weddell Sea. I understand it is because of the delicate balance of the ecosystem in the Antarctic that oil exploration would upset it.
DW: The reason there won’t be any oil exploration – oil or gas or indeed for any hard minerals in the Antarctic is because a prohibition on that was written into the protocol for the protection of the Antarctic Environment. And, it lasts some 50 years initially and then can be renewed. It applies to the whole of the Antarctic and everywhere South of 60S – not just the Weddell Sea.
SARTMA: What are the affects of the naturally occurring hydrocarbons generation on the ecosystems in and the around the Antarctic continent, such as gas chimneys and naturally occurring oil slicks that can be spotted by satellite.
DW: I know of no persistent oil seeps at all. We know that there traces of oil and gas in the Ross Sea basin because that’s been found during normal drilling operations for sediment sampling. Those holes were capped. I am not aware of anybody that has drilled holes anywhere in the Weddell Sea, which is showing either oil or gas because most of the Weddell sea is covered by pack ice. It’s very hard to drill. There are hot spots but they are largely along the tectonic fault line so you would find those mostly in places like the South Sandwich Islands along the edge of the trench. And, they don’t appear to be directly connected to oil seepages or anything like that. There is no evidence on the surface on that. I would say that any oil slick in the surface is probably due to somebody tank washing or maybe even a ship sunk. We don’t find oil seepages like you do in some other parts of the world where they are coming out of oil sands which are lying on the bottom.
SARTMA: Do you perceive any knock-on effects from oil exploration here especially in the South Falkland Basin? And, are there any perceived knock-on effects of the exploration and exploitation around Tierra del Fuego?
DW: There should be no knock-on effects for the Antarctic because it’s covered by the International Treaty Agreement. People will continue to accumulate scientific data for both the Ross Sea and the Weddell Sea Basins because they are interested in the structures – the geological structures that underlay them. And, I expect there will be some more drilling there in particular to sample some of the sedimentary sequences, which are in the basins. The seismic data we currently have is, I believe, not good enough to allow us to make any projections about the likelihood of oil reservoirs. The coverage is much less than you’ve got in the North and South Falkland Basin, where most companies appear to need extensive 3D Seismic these days before they are willing to put a drilling rig anywhere near. Nobody has that sort of data running around the Antarctic.
SARTMA: As for Krill, I was wondering if you knew what the reasoning was for developing a Krill fishery, seeing that some of the finished product looks and smells like Penguin Pooh.
DW: The Krill fishery provides a whole range of things. It was originally used to provide high quality Krill Paste …
SARTMA: That’s the stuff!
DW: The Japanese and the Russians use it. They make it into a number of products for Human consumption. They also use it as a high protein supplement for feeding cattle, so it’s an additive to cattle feed. These days, I believe, some of this is actually going as an additive into food for fish farms because it provides a range of amino acids which are very useful for feeding things like Salmon in cages. It’s also being used, at the moment, for a range of potential pharmaceutical materials. They are extracting enzymes from it as well as the shell to make a number of pharmaceutical preparations. So the 400,000 tonnes which can be caught at the moment is being used in a whole variety of ways.
SARTMA: Why target a species that is at the base of the food chain in parts of the South Atlantic and the Southern Ocean?
DW: That would be a problem if the fishery was run on the basis that most of the world’s fisheries are run on and that is a single target species approach. Actually, that’s not the way the Southern Ocean is run on an ecosystem-based approach. And, the food web is actually the fundamental system, which decides what species you can catch and how much you can catch. And the whole area is divided up into several areas with different total allowable catches in them. Each of those is set in respect to what is believed to be the population turn-over rate. And, the affect of the catch monitored by monitoring the higher predators like Penguins and Seals that are in that area to see that their numbers are protected by the fishery.
SARTMA: There has been research into the affect of sea ice melting and the populations of Krill in various areas. Some research around South Georgia shows that this is an unknown and there is a suspected increase in the amount of Krill in the waters surrounding the Island. Is the research complete? Did I ask questions about Krill population around South Georgia a bit too early on in the research to get the significant answer I got?
DW: We do have a good estimate for the Krill stocks in the Scotia Sea area. That was the result of a multi-national effort involving the research vessels of several countries around about five years ago. We had a concerted series of investigations to establish how much Krill was in the various parts of the Scotia Sea. So we have a sample of the whole of the Scotia Sea. We also know that the Bellingshausen Sea is the nursery for most of the Krill that is coming up the west side of the Peninsula and ending up in South Georgia. So we are concerned about the stability and the long-term future of the sea ice in the area because it’s clear that’s crucial for the early phases of Krill growth. I would say that we do intend – as far as I know – to have some cruises in the Bellingshausen Sea over the next few years to consolidate our information on that area of Krill life cycle. We’ve got quite good models now, which take Krill from the Bellingshausen Sea and show how quickly it moves through the current system and ends up in a different life-cycle around South Georgia. We have graphs for the oceanography, which underlies that. We have a large research programme based on Krill and dependent species and, in particular, we contribute the information we get to the CCAMLR Scientific Committee every year to make sure that all the related information is assessed by the Scientific Committee before making recommendations for the fishery.
Section 2:
POLICE NEWS
The search still continues for Tony McClelland, an Engineer from the M/V Indomitable, based at Mare Harbour. Mr. McClelland’s photo is on SARTMA.com and on falklandnews.com. Anyone having information about Mr. McClelland can call 00-500-76484 and speak with the Joint Services Police Services Unit at Mount Pleasant complex.
At 1814 hrs on Monday, 05 December 2005 the Royal Falkland Islands Police received a report of a fire alarm at the Jersey Road Flats. Fire Officers attended and discovered it was a false alarm.
At 0905 hrs on Wednesday, 07 December 2005 the EOD attended grid reference K-4 to deal with a suspected rocket. They waited for low tide but found nothing.
At 0955 hrs on Thursday 08 December 2005 the Royal Falkland Islands Police received notification of a medivac from the KEMH.
At 2003 hrs on Thursday, 08 December 2005 the Royal Falkland Islands Police received a report of a chimney fire on Davis St. The Fire Service dealt with the fire and is was made safe at 2048 hrs.
At 2043 hrs on Thursday, 08 December 2005 The Royal Falkland Islands Police received a report of damage at the Globe Tavern where a person ripped a toilet from the wall in the loo. One person was arrested but the matter is being dealt with by the owner of the Globe and the person arrested.
At 0048 hrs on Friday, 09 December 2005 the Royal Falkland islands Police received a report of a number of items stolen from a property on Jersey Road. Police Officers attended and spoke to a number of men and the property was returned.
Section 3:
COMMITTEE NEWS:
PUBLIC NOTICE
FALKLAND ISLANDS GOVERNMENT COMMITTEES
ACCESS TO INFORMATION
Please note that the following committee meetings will be open for public attendance during the forthcoming week:
Police Committee – Tuesday 13th December at 3pm at Government House
Standing Finance Committee – Friday 16th December at 8am in the Liberation Room, Secretariat
Members of the public can attend but not speak at Committee meetings.
Copies of the Agenda and Reports can be seen in the Secretariat at least three working days before the date of the meeting.
Thank you
Una Wallace
Secretariat
Stanley
7 December 2005
Section 4:
WOOL REPORT: for the week ending Friday 8th December 2005
Auctions
Starting the week at 648 A cents, the Australian Eastern Market Indicator (EMI) lost five cents on Tuesday, drifted another three cents on Wednesday and remained level on Thursday. The EMI thus closed the week down eight cents at 640A cents. There was an 81% clearance of 62,000 bales.
In New Zealand, the Merino Indicator was not quoted; the Mid-micron Indicator was quoted 14 cents lower on the week at 527 cents. The Fine Crossbred Indicator (33-35µ) was quoted down three cents at 330 NZ cents and the Coarse Crossbred Indicator (35.1+µ) was down six to 310 cents. The Lamb Indicator was not quoted.
In South Africa the Cape Wools Overall Merino Indicator was quoted down 3.5 percent on the week from 2,312 to 2,232 SA cents per kg clean.
Currencies
Towards the end of the week, the Australian dollar was trading stronger at A$2.33/£ whilst the New Zealand dollar was also stronger at 2.45 NZ cents/£.
FWG Agency
Many thanks to all those who kindly had me to stay during my recent visit to the Falklands. My thanks also to all those who kindly provided meals and snacks, assisted my communications and helped with my travel by lending vehicles or driving me to the next destination. Please forgive me if I don’t catch up with you on this particular visit.
With Thanks and Regards, Robert
Section 5:
ANNOUNCEMENTS
The Next quarterly meeting of the Asthma Support Group will take place on Tuesday, 13 December 2005 at 1700 in the KEMH Day Room.
A Camp Road Show has been arranged to discuss the recently published integrated transport study. It is taking place on Monday, 12 December 2005 in the Goose Green Community Hall beginning at 1700hrs. The Chief Executive, Mr. Chris Simpkins and Julian Morris, General Manager of FIDC will attend.
A place exists on the Planning and Building Committee for a lay member to serve a term of three years. Meetings are on the 1st Thursday of every month. Interested people can give their names to Fiona Wallace, Secretary to the Planning and Building Committee on Phone 27390. You can also e-mail fwallace.planning@taxation.gov.fk. Applications close on Friday, 06 January 2006.
There will be a Vet visiting West Falkland on Tuesday, 13 December 2005. If you have any animals requiring treatment, please contact the Veterinary Service on 27366.
There will be a public meeting in the Court and Council Chamber of the Town Hall on Tuesday, 13 December 2005 beginning at 1700. Councilors will be discussing the General Purposes Committee and Access to Information.
Would People on repeat medications please check their supplies for the Christmas-new Year period. Any medications needing a top-up between Wednesday, 21 December 2005 and Friday, 06 January 2006, please order between Monday, 05 December and Monday, 19 December 2005 to ensure supply for the Christmas and New Year break.
From Byron/McKay
Dockworker/Night security person is required. Duties include one week on
night security duty, followed by two weeks of barge and dock maintenance
duties, working under the supervision of the Dock Foreman. A two-year
contract of employment is offered attracting a salary of £10,000/annum +
holiday entitlement. Commencement date 19th December 2005.
Applications will only be considered from persons who are conscientious
workers, of sober habits, trustworthy, and who possess valid driving
licences.
Applications should be submitted in writing to Byron/McKay Port Services, PO
Box 729 Stanley. Closing date for applications is Friday 16th December
2005.
The Vice President of Chichester College, Mr. John Bates, will soon visit the Falklands. He has particularly asked to meet any ex-students or apprentices who trained at Chichester College and have returned to work in the Falklands. He would also like to find out how careers have developed and how former students thinks Chichester College can help students and apprentices in the future. 27289.
The Endeavour will be calling in to Stanley on Monday 12th December 05.
There are 105 pax on board and the ship will be at FIPASS. ETA
0700hrs/ETD2000hrs. Guest are doing a Stanley Tour 0900hrs11000hrs and then
tours in the PM also.
Debbie Summers
Tourism Development Manager
Sulivan Shipping Services Limited
Stanley
Falkland Islands FIQQ 1ZZ
http://www.sulivanshipping.com
Death Notice: Marian Purvis, wife of Alan, died after a short but serious illness on Wednesday, 07 December 2005. Sylvia Cole at the Education Office has a contact address for message
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