FIBS NEWS DIRECT: FRIDAY, 16 May 2003
ILLEX SEASON CLOSES 2 WEEKS EARLY:
A decision was made this morning to close the Illex season two weeks early. It will officially close at midnight on the 31st of May, 2 weeks before the usual closing date. Director of Fisheries, John Barton, says that there are 40,000 tonnes of spawning stock biomass left and this should help secure the fishery for next year. Companies will be given a small licence refund as a result of the early closure. At the moment there are only 4 jiggers left fishing. The rest left after catches dropped.
ROAD ACCIDENT VICTIM HELICOPTERED TO STANLEY:
Yesterday a casualty was brought into the KEMH after an accident on the Mount Pleasant airfield. A vehicle with 4 passengers had rolled over. The Medical Officer attended the scene and decided that one of the casualties should be placed on a spinal board as a precautionary measure. The Sea King was tasked to bring the person into Stanley for treatment at the KEMH. This landed at the football pitch just before 0020.
UNDER 5S GATHER TO RECORD FAVOURITE NURSERY RHYMES:
The "Give a Quid to an Iraqi Kid" appeal has now more than £1050.00 in it. This afternoon around 40 under 5s gathered at the Day Centre to record their favourite nursery rhymes and songs.
MEAT:
The first sample shipment of meat from the Falkland Islands Meat Company has now arrived in the UK. General Manager of FIDC, Julian Morris, says its now into the EU and has been cleared by the Public Health and that this was not an easy task. He does say, though, that the customer hasn’t seen the meat yet and they are hoping to hear in the next week what the verdict is.
MOUNT PLEASANT MARKET:
The next Mount pleasant Market’s happening tomorrow. Civil/Military Liaison Officer, Anthony McCord (AM) explains what they can expect.
AM: We’ve got 9 traders who say they want to go out there. A variety of traders including some from MPA themselves. MP Travel will be there. The Hive, which is the volunteer exchange of information will be there and the play group are trying to raise some money by selling cakes and the like and they will be there. And, then we have a number of people from Stanley and Camp. Fred Clark will be there with his goodies, Sarah Clement from Falklands Conservation, Phil and Stella Middleton, Marion Purvis, from "Cat’s Whiskers," and Pam Budd from the "Candy Cabin," and finally, Barbara Curtis with all her bits and pieces to sell. It starts about 1100 and finishes at 1400.
CG: Where is it happening?
AM: It’s at 12 Facility, in the main corridor that links the accommodation blocks. It’s at the top end of the accommodation area.
CG: You’ve had some of these in the past. How have they gone down?
AM: This is the second one that’s happened in the last year. The last one happened in February and was very well attended. I thought it went very well. It would be see more people attend and see a little bit of what the Falkland Islanders can produce.
FIRE STATION RAFFLE DRAW:
This morning the Fire Station Raffle Draw took place here at FIBS. Amongst the ruffling of papers, six lucky winners were drawn out. Perhaps the most sought after prize, the overnight stay at Malvina with £50.00 worth of drinks, was won by Alan Davis at the Police Station. Other prize winners were Sibby Summers, Shiela Stewart, Wayne McCormick, Loraine McGill and Andrew Alazia. Station Commander, Brin Rozee (BR), explains how much money they raised in total.
BR: On the Fire Engine Pull, we raised £428.51, which went to the Stephen Jaffray Memorial Fund. The raffle was £2038.22, which made a total of £2466.73. I’d like to say thank-you to everybody that sold tickets for us because without you we wouldn’t have done it.
NATIONAL PARKS:
How will national parks affect you and what does it mean for the Falklands? After the recent meeting at Hope Cottage to discuss the proposed Wickham Heights as a national park. (No sound-byte).
(100X Transcription Service)
"A" Press: 16 May 2003
Speculation over Nestor Kirchner's likely cabinet has dominated the Argentine press yesterday and today. The peso has fallen against the dollar. It had risen over the last month to around 2.82 to the dollar, but it closed on Friday at 2.98.
But there is an important Falklands story. Today La Nacion has picked up on the Penguin News front page and remarks by Concillors Norma Edwards and John Birmingham. I think this is most unfortunate. Below is a translation of their report, followed by the original Spanish.
La Nacion 17th May 2003
Petition from the Malvinas (title)
Falklands Councillor Norma Edwards has asked President elect Nestor Kirchner to be "sensible" and that once in government, he "abandon the claim" for sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, although she opened a door to an eventual negotiation in saying that the future president "could come up with a sensible idea" with which they could "agree".
In a report published yesterday on the front page of the islands newspaper, with the title "The Councillors hope for a new approach from the next President of Argentina", with a photo of Kirchner, Edwards says that she believes the election of a new Argentine president "is an opportunity for the country to adopt a new approach to the Falkland Islands".
To be exact, the Falklands Councillor said that the message she has for him is "that you look at the whole situation again, that you be sensible and drop your claim and then we can live as neighbours should live. He could try to come up with a sensible idea with which we might be able to agree"
Opportunity
"I think that he (Kirchner) has enough to think about in his own country without worrying about us" said the Falklands Councillor Edwards.
"Anyway, it stands out, that Kirchner has not made the Falklands a campaign issue".
Meanwhile, Councillor John Birmingham considered that "this could be an opportunity to cooperate over the conservation of fishing in the South Atlantic and in other subjects of mutual interest.
(100X Translation Service)
