South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands (Hansard, 6 May 1993)

§ Mr. Garel-Jones

In recent years, we have become increasingly concerned about the conservation of marine182W resources around South Georgia and the South Sandwich islands in the south Atlantic which is a British dependent territory. At present, the Crown's sovereignty and jurisdiction around South Georgia and the South Sandwich islands extend to the 12-mile limit of the territorial sea. For waters beyond this, we have hitherto relied solely on the work of the commission created by the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources—CCAMLR—a component of the Antarctic treaty system. This depends on flag state regulation and policing to apply conservation measures decided by consensus amongst the 22 members. We fully support CCAMLR and co-operate in the body's work. We have worked most energetically to strengthen the role of CCAMLR in its regulation of southern ocean fisheries. Although CCAMLR has provided timely and much-needed protection for commercially fished species, we are concerned that nevertheless fish stocks have been depleted.

Moreover, infringements of CCAMLR regulations have grown. The need to reinforce conservation arrangements in the area for which Her Majesty's Government are responsible is clear. Accordingly, Ministers have decided to strengthen conservation and management of marine resources around South Georgia and the South Sandwich islands by the introduction of national measures. These measures are intended to supplement not replace the role of CCAMLR and are of course fully compatible with it.

For this reason, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs has instructed the commissioner for South Georgia and the South Sandwich islands to issue a proclamation tomorrow to provide for the exercise of the Crown's sovereign rights to jurisdiction over a maritime zone and its natural resources, living and non-living, extending to a distance of 200 nautical miles around the territories.

In addition, an ordinance will be made, in due course, by the commissioner for South Georgia and the South Sandwich islands designed to monitor and protect the state of the fish stocks within the maritime zone. This action will reinforce existing measures under CCAMLR.

Since their re-establishment in 1990, our relations with Argentina have progressed to their present excellent state and are now marked by a new openness and growing mutual confidence. This is a source of great satisfaction to Her Majesty's Government, who will continue to work to develop the relationship further. Against this background, it was natural for us to discuss our concerns over conservation fully with the Argentine Government with whom we have extensive exchanges on south Atlantic matters, particularly in relation to fisheries. We look forward to pursuing this dialogue.