§ Lord Moranasked Her Majesty's Government:
What plans they have to improve fishing control round the Falkland Islands in order to protect the remaining stocks of squid, and whether they will take account of the call by the Falkland Islands Legislative Council both to extend the Interim Conservation Zone to 200 miles and to claim the continental shelf round the islands.
The Earl of CaithnessWe always listen carefully to the views of the Falkland Islands' Legislative Council. Its call to extend the Interim Conservation Zone to 200 miles pre-dated the Joint Statement with2WA Argentina of 28th November 1990, following which fishery jurisdiction around the Falkland Islands was extended to 200 miles (except in the west). Fishing is now banned in the new Outer Conservation Zone, bringing substantial benefits for fish stocks in the area.
In a Declaration on the Conservation of Fish Stocks and on the Maritime Jurisdiction around the Falkland Islands dated 29th October 1986 the British Government declared for the avoidance of doubt that, "The continental shelf around the Falkland Islands extends to a distance of 200 nautical miles from the base-lines from which the breadth of the territorial sea of the Falkland Islands is measured or to such other limit as is prescribed by the rules of international law, including those concerning the delimitation of maritime jurisdiction between neighbours." No decision has yet been taken to introduce legislative measures to implement this part of the declaration.