FINN(COM) Daily Record: 15 January 2004

Falkland Islands resident shareholders of Desire Petroleum plc should have received via UK airmail this week, the placing notice issued by Seymour Pierce Limited including an application form to purchase open offer shares. The late receipt of these notices in the Falkland Islands is regretted.

As insufficient time remains for shareholders to submit their returns via the UK postal system, Mr Lewis Clifton has been duly appointed Agent to receive Application Forms and cheques from Desire Petroleum shareholders who are Falkland Islands residents.

Completed application forms and supporting cheques, made payable to Desire Petroleum plc, should be returned to Lewis Clifton, PO Box 531, Stanley, to reach him not later than 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday 20^{th January 2004.}

Any shareholder who has already completed and posted an application form as per the original instructions issued by Seymour Pierce Ltd, should kindly notify Lewis Clifton of the quantity of shares requested, and forward him a copy of their completed application form.

Falkland Islands resident shareholders can be assured that every effort will be made to honour all applications received.

Dr Colin Phipps

Chairman

Desire Petroleum plc

COMMITTEE MEETINGS:

Monday, 19 January 2004: Education and Training – 0830 – Liberation Room, Secretariat

Health and Medical Services Committee –1215- Gilbert House

Tuesday, 20 January 2004: FIDB -1000 – FIDC Board Room

FLH –1400- FIDC Board Room

Friday, 23 January 2004: Education Board – 0830 – Education Office

Cost of Living Committee –1000- Liberation Room

LINDA CAPPER HONOURED WITH AN MBE:

The Queen's New Years Honours list has been announced. Honours are awarded twice a year, in June and at the New Year.

They are awarded to people for all types of service, including teachers, nurses, actors, scientists, diplomats and broadcasters.

Finding new ways to connect science and its achievements with the public is a continuing challenge.

Linda Capper has provided the initiative and ideas to do just that here at British Antarctic Survey.

In developing a new and more active linkage between the world-wide audience interested in the Antarctic and the work of British Antarctic Survey, she has reached out in many directions. Through the arts and humanities, through education and music as well as through TV, radio, newspapers and exhibitions BAS science and the importance of the Antarctic to everyone has been made more immediate, more important and more real.

FIODA:

The Falkland Islands Operatic and Dramatic Association will be holding its Annual General Meeting at the Chamber of Commerce on Thursday evening beginning at 1930. There will be an annual progress report, A discussion about revising the constitution and projects for this year. An election for the Committee will also take place. All Welcome.

COUNCILLOR RESIGNS AS FISHING COMPANY DIRECTOR:

Cllr. Roger Edwards has resigned as Director of the Pardaelis Fishing Company, which has been involved in a two-year legal wrangle involving crew members who refused to leave their vessels in Punta Arenas. Cllr. Edwards told us this morning that financial reasons were behind his decision to end his company’s, Meridith’s, involvement in the joint venture, Pardaelis Fishing Company. Company Secretary, Kevin Kilmartin, also stood down. When News Direct enquired earlier this morning as to the role of the two, Registrar General, John Rowland, confirmed that they were both still officially in their positions with the Company Mr. Kilmartin then told us he had sent off a letter of resignation in November but it obviously not yet been lodged. On a follow-up call later this morning, Mr. Rowland confirmed that he received mid morning the resignation documents for the two dated the 28th of November. Some crew members have been on the Pardaelis and the Almaril tow years after what they allege were unjustified redundancies. They are claiming two-year arrears payment against the company. They are said to be living in terrible conditions onboard and have gained the support of Punta Arenas Authorities and local unions in their fight against the Pardaelis Fishing Company. The Captain of the Pardaelis, Roberto Darcey, has argued that the mostly Peruvian crew members were fired last year. There are hopes the case could be on the brink of resolution after the Peruvian Consulate sent a legal councillor to Punta to work on the case. The Pardaelis is still registered as a Falklands flagged vessel.

ARGENTINE HIGH SEAS FISHING A FIASCO:

The Argentine Government’s pre-season Squid catching crusade has been described as a media show and a fiasco. They decided to allow vessels to fish on the high seas with an extra 200 miles from the middle of December. There were concerns that the initiative could have had an affect on the up coming Illex season in the Falklands. An Argentine Association for the Defence of Fisheries has been working on figures provided by the Argentine Coast Guard and found that only 13 vessels took advantage of the initiative, with poor results. Most caught only 800kg of squid a day – a mere 10% of what is needed to make a profit. And, only 100 foreign vessels had been fishing, not the 250 that were forecast. The majority of these vessels also have licences to fish in the Falklands.

LORDS COMMITTEE:

The House of Lords Committee that visited Rothera earlier this week arrived back in the Islands yesterday. They went to Kidney Island today and are due to meet with the Fisheries Department, Mineral Resources and the Government of South Georgia tomorrow before heading back to the UK on Saturday. Several members of the British Antarctic Survey have been travelling with the group including Director, Professor Chris Rapley and Professor David Walton (DW). He told me how the visit had gone.

DW: The House of Lords Select Committee of Science and Technology decided that they would like to investigate the way in which Government took scientific information and used it in terms of international treaties. How did they gather the information? How did they assess it? How did they use it to develop policies? It occurred to them that the Antarctic Treaty was probably one of the best cases to study because the Antarctic is actually about peace and science. So a small group of them – three Members of the House of Lords, together with the Clerk of the Committee, decided that they needed to visit the Antarctic to talk to the people down there and see for themselves how the Antarctic Treaty was related to the science that BAS does. They had a very successful visit down to Rothera. They have been out into the field to see field camps and they talked to a whole range of scientists on base. I think they got a real feeling for the way in which Britain actually operates in the Antarctic and how we feed information back to the British Government for Antarctic Treaty purposes.

SG: The Committee itself is due to produce a report with recommendations to the UK Government later this year.

CONSERVATION:

Yesterday we brought you a story about Mike Piankofski of the Overseas Territories Conservation Forum, who told FIBS about work going on in the Islands to develop the Falklands Environment Charter. Also in the Islands this week is Denise Duggen from the Foreign Office Environmental Policy Department. She’s also working on the development of the charter. She has already had meetings with ARGOS and the Environmental Planning Office and was due to meet with Andy Douse and Falklands Conservation during the week.

MENTION IN POPULAR MECHANICS:

The Falklands are featured in an article about luxury cruise liner, ORIAN, in the slightly obscure (FINN Disagrees) publication, Popular Mechanics. The Islands get special mention as one of the destinations on the ship’s maiden voyage in November. She is described as the world’s most luxurious ice breaker, measuring 337 ft from stem to stern. The 6-deck ship has an E-3 Ice Classification, meaning that she can plough through the ice in places like Antarctica. Following her maiden voyage to Antarctica, Orian is heading off to the Canadian Arctic in March.

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