FIBS NEWS DIRECT: TUESDAY, 24 JUNE 2003
MASS STRANDING OF PILOT WHALES:
There’s been a mass stranding of Pilot Whales along the East Bay coastline. The vets, who are qualified Marine Mammal Medics, Fisheries and Conservation Reps. And members of the FIDF are at the site today where more than 150 Whales are beached. They are assessing the situation but it looks likely that the 20 surviving animals will need to be put down. The stranding was spotted by a FIGAS Pilot yesterday. Sarah Clement from Falklands Conservation explains that it’s unlikely that the surviving animals will be in a suitable condition to be returned to the sea, due to their location and the length of time they have been ashore. Although the vet’s there to assess their condition, these Whales are 32KM. Away from the open sea. Unfortunately, all that can be done for the remaining animals is for them to be relieved from any further pain, she says. Part of the training given by the Marine Mammal Medics when they were visiting, was to teach people how to determine the condition of beached Whales and make a decision using that information. Falklands Conservation pass on their thanks to the team who are at East Bay, the Military, who flew them there at short notice, and Lee Findlay, who lives there, for his help, and FIGAS for passing on the information.
BAKER’S ALE:
Former General Manager of FIDC, Richard Baker, has started in his quest to make the finest ale in the country. Preston Today reports that after leaving the Falklands, Richard Started up the Bowland Beer Company near Clitheroe. He is quoted as saying that he has big ambitions for the brewery and the ultimate aim is to carry the Bowland name beyond the Lancs boarder and even into export market. He says that talks have already begun into exporting the beer into the Islands
GOOD NEWS FROM THE GOLDEN SHEERS:
Lee Molkenbuhr and Iain Clarke have done themselves and the Islands proud proud at the Golden Sheers in Edinburgh, taking part in three events. Peter Goss (PG) came in to give us a round-up of what the two sheerers have been up to and how, in his view, he thinks they’ve done.
PG: They have done extremely well when you consider the small amount of sheerers we now locally have to pick from. But certainly, over the years, the sheering has improved greatly.
LH: A lot of them go away to the UK to sheer as well. So, that’s more experience for them.
PG: You need to move around and sheer in different countries because the sheep are different to sheer. They may be bigger sheep or finer wool or whatever. You usually find that at these competitions, the home sheerers seem to do far better than they would away from home. And, of course, there’s expense of getting to the competition as well.
LH: And the black-faced sheep were used at the Highland Show and apparently they are quite hard to sheer.
PG: Their old horns are pretty sharp and they are very lively and coarse wool and pretty different to the sheep we have here. Different sheep are a challenge. In the Golden Sheers, Iain was 13th and Iain was 14th. I don’t know any of the actual points scored so I can’t judge how close they were or behind they were from the others. Paul Philips actually did get 7th in the South African one after failing by one point, to get into the last 6. They are doing well. Just think that Australia has 40,000 sheerers and New Zealand, 30,000 to pick from. We only have 10 or 15. It’s good that they go and compete because it puts Falklands Wool Production on the map. It shows that our product is taken off by high quality sheerers and it is good for the promotion of wool from the Falklands.
CG: As well as that event, the Islanders took part in the Royal Highland Open and, out of 84 sheerers, came in 13th and 14th. They also took part in the team sheer and came 7th, pipped to the post by Ireland. Their team included sheerer Tom Kennedy, who is local girl Ingrid Jaffray’s partner.
STUDIES:
Youngsters from the Falklands could be studying on the Isle of Man from September next year, according to Isle of Man Online. This comes after a fact finding visit from Director of Education, Sylvia Cole last week to the International Business School and King William’s College. Sylvia Cole hopes that a partnership can be forged which will see 6th form students from the Islands taking 2 years at KWC, studying for the International Baccalaureate, and 18 year-olds taking a degree at the Business School.
CAMP EDUCATION:
Camp Education has started raising funds. But this year, as well as holding a dance in the Trough on the 4th of July, they are also running a grand raffle. The prizes, which have been donated by businesses and members of the public, include weekend breaks at various locations around the Islands, meals, gift vouchers, mutton, beef, and much more. Tickets are on sale now and cost .50p for one or, a book of 6 for £2.50. They are available from shops, Camp Ed staff, Goose Green, North Arm, and Fox Bay.
EU FISHERIES NEWS:
The European Union Fisheries Policy has moved closer towards placing a ban on the dumping of harvested fish in the sea. This came after a vote was taken by members of the European Parliament to support the ban in principle. The EU Action Plan to reduce fish discards estimated that as much as 63% of North Sea Whiting was discarded over the last 30 years. The report also estimates that the volume of fish discards world-wide is in the region of 18 and 40 million tonnes. This far exceeded total fisheries production of 7.8 million. It points a clear link to the use of certain fishing gear, saying that the use of more appropriate gear needs to be encouraged so that juvenile fish can escape from the nets.
SAR RESCUE:
A helicopter rescued an injured man from a tanker on Monday. Fisheries were told of the man's situation during the morning when the vessel was around 5 miles away from Cape Pembroke but because of the bad weather conditions, the Search and Rescue team couldn’t take off until early afternoon. By this time, the tanker wasn’t far away from Mount Pleasant and it only took around 10 minutes for the helicopter to get to the scene. The man was treated in hospital for a cut to the hand.
33RD ANNIVERSARY:
It’s 33 years since the first all steel liner returned to the UK from the Falklands. Brunell’s 320 ft Great Britain left here in 1970 after it had lain rusting since 1986.
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FINN’s Note: Lyle Craigie Halkett, from worked on the lifting of the SS Great Britain in 1970.
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