Environmental Committee
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AGENDA Meeting of the Environmental Committee Wednesday 19th October 2016 at 8.30am Liberation Room, Secretariat Distribution List:- Hon. Mr Michael Poole, MLA Hon. Mrs Jan Cheek, MLA Representative, Falkland Islands Tourist Board Representative, Rural Business Association Representative, Department of Agriculture Representative, Falkland Islands Fishing Companies Association Representative, Falklands Conservation Mr Mike Evans, Community Representative Mr Sam Cockwell, Community Representative Miss Emily Hancox, Community Representative Environmental Officer Head of Environmental Planning Representative, South Atlantic Environmental Research Institute HE The Governor Principal Crown Counsel Environmental Committee 8.30am, October 19th 2016 Liberation Room, Stanley Part I (Open) 1.0 Apologies for Absence 2.0 Declarations of Interest 3.0 Confirmation of the minutes of the meeting held on 18th August 2016 4.0 Matters Arising: 4.1 Funding Applications Update; Darwin Plus and EU BEST Verbal Update 4.2 Invasive Plant control Verbal Update 4.3 Calafate Open Day – Port Sussex DoA Invite 4.4 Environmental Studies Budget application Earwig Monitoring Proposal to follow 4.5 Biological Control Update Report Attached 5.0 Marine Spatial Planning for the Falkland Islands Report Attached 6.0 Climate Change Project Recommendations Report Attached 7.0 BEST III Conclusions Presentation by Maria Taylor 8.0 Environmental Committee Terms of Reference Report Attached 9.0 Research Licence Applications: 9.1 Using unmanned aerial vehicles for environmental Application Attached monitoring at Sea Lion Island 9.2 Genetic Structure of Southern Rockhopper Penguins Application Attached in the SW Atlantic 10.0 Papers of interest (available on request from EO): Report to FIG on attendance at:-1.5 Degrees – Meeting the challenge of the Paris Agreement, University of Oxford, September 2016 Report of Activities, Research License R05/2016 The termination of the last ice age in the Falkland Islands, Brenda Hall and Thomas Lowell, University of Maine Use of local ecological knowledge to investigate endangered baleen whale recovery in the Falkland Islands, Veronica F. Frans ⁎, Amélie A. Augé 11 .0 Date of next meeting TBC THE ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITTEE Minutes 08.30am, August 18th 2016 Liberation Room, Stanley Present: MLA Michael Poole Chair MLA Jan Cheek MLA Cheek Nick Rendell (EPD) NR Ian Campbell (DOA) IC Jackie Cotter (FIFCA) AP Kyle Biggs (FITB) KB Andy Stanworth (FC) AS David Blockley (SAERI) DB Sam Cockwell (Com Rep) SC Emily Hancox (Com Rep) EH Press and Public Attending: 0 Part I (Open) 1.0 Apologies for Absence Apologies were received from Nick Pitaluga (RBA Rep) and Mike Evans (Community Rep). 2.0 Declarations of Interest JC for any items relating to Falklands Conservation EH for SAERI bids DB for SAERI bids 3.0 Confirmation of the minutes of the meeting held on 18th May 2016 Approved with no amendments. 4.0 Matters Arising: 4.1 Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) NR noted that CBD had now been extended to FIG from the UK and this was welcomed by Committee. NR noted the procedure had been quick and now needed to be followed by implementation through the Biodiversity Framework. 4.2 External Funding Bids Summary NR noted several rounds of external funding which will be available to the Overseas Territories, including Darwin Plus and EU BEST medium size bids. AS noted FC are submitting one project to the medium-size funding EU BEST round. 1 4.3 Building efficiency in the Building Regulations 2016/17 4.4 Chair thanked the Building Advisor for providing this summary. 4.5 Marine Spatial Planning Chair noted a further year’s funding has been awarded to the Fisheries Dept and SAERI to continue the project with details to follow. 4.6 Climate Change Quarter Theme Chair thanked everyone involved in the climate change quarter and noted the Power and Electrical Dept will have a further Open Day at the wind turbines later in year. Chair noted National Tidy Up Day is taking Place on 8th October; details to be circulated. He also noted a Malta Environmental Department skype call happening in October; any interested Committee members are welcome to attend. JC noted she had questioned low sulphur fuel imports with Stanley Services who reported they currently have little choice over fuel supplies. She said they would bear it in mind in future. 4.7 Ecosystem Services Assessment Chair noted he has chased this work again with Strategic Oil Group. 5.0 Environmental Studies Budget Allocation Committee considered the bids summary with priorities and recommendations provided on the agenda. EH felt that Climate Change priority should be higher. It was agreed increase to a mid-way score of 8. Members felt education and awareness should be given more detail in the ESB application on what is required. AS requested invasives higher priority and committee agreed to revise the score to 15. Action: NR EH questioned the invertebrate monitoring project in the absence of a detailed application. It was agreed to hold on approval until detailed application reviewed. Committee agreed with recommendations and approved funding bids in line with the agenda. Committee members agreed to support the projects identified for support in the recommendations, with the exception of the invertebrate monitoring project for which further details are required. 6.0 BEST III Conclusions Cancelled due to absence of Project Officer. To be presented at October meeting. 7.0 Kew Gardens TEFRA Climate Falklands Change Project Chair welcomed the initiative and the final reports on Climate Change in the 2 Falklands, noting the recommendations paper circulated. AS questioned how the CC risk assessment and recommendations work fits with the Biodiversity Framework and where additional Climate Change work fits. Chair suggested the report and recommendations should be presented to ExCo in a stand-alone document with detail on actions and lead departments provided. AS noted that the actions identified vary from small scale to strategic and should be put in context. NR agreed to review the recommendations and bring a revised detailed report back to Committee in October. Action: NR 8.0 Falkland Islands Seabird Monitoring Programme Report AS summarised the annual seabird counts undertaken by FC last season. On the whole he noted a good start and bad finish to the breeding season, culminating in some chick and adult mortalities in penguin species reported in the North and West of the Falklands. He noted the 27 year data set which is now in place and that analysis of this long-term data set is underway with publications to follow. 9.0 Invasive Plant control Chair and committee welcomed the 2 year plan presented which was largely the work of Sally Poncet who has led on invasive plant control last year. NR noted her good work as well as FC and DoA efforts. AS welcomed the plan and noted the need to formalise invasive plant priorities through the Biodiversity Framework and Species Action Plans. NR acknowledged this work is required and will be prioritised. Committee endorsed the plan. Action: NR 10.0 Energy Conservation Policy Chair introduced this item. Committee agreed it was an excellent policy start. EH noted the need to audit the process and monitor results. Property & Municipals section of PWD will be closely involved. 11.0 Research Licence Applications: Application Forms Attached: 11.1 Demography, breeding success and communication of the Falkland skuas of Sea Lion Island Agreed and supported by Committee. Diving and feeding strategies of southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) of Sea Lion Island Agreed and supported by Committee. Seabirds and wind - the consequences of extreme prey taxis in a changing climate Agreed and supported. More detail on shearwater trapping timings and number of tag deployments requested. Action: NR 12.0 Papers of interest (available on request from EO): 3 Noted by Committee members. 20.0 Terms of Reference (considered in open part of meeting) A draft revised Terms of Reference for the Environmental Committee which has been drafted by the Attorney General’s Chambers was considered. It was agreed SAERI should gain full voting rights. Detailed comments are welcomed to NR prior to the next meeting of EC. Action: NR 13.0 Date of next meeting TBC – planned for late October 4 Impact of the invasive European earwig (Forficula auricularia) on the indigenous invertebrate communities of the Falkland Island Outline for a PhD project Underlying rationale Over recent years annual outbreaks of the European earwig in Port Stanley and other settlements within the Falkland Islands have caused considerable problems ranging from yield losses in horticulture to various health and safety issues. Unusual high and detrimental densities of earwigs can best be explained by the lack of natural enemies and to readdress this imbalance a biological control programme is currently underway to introduce two parasitoid flies. These flies have been tested for host specificity and are highly specialised to attack and infect later instars and adult earwig specimens. However, there is also the threat that earwigs may impact negatively on native ecosystems either by predation on native species or by outcompeting species which occupy a similar niche. Subsequently, such direct effects may have significant consequences for the whole food web of the invaded systems. Little is known about the population dynamics of earwigs on the Falkland Islands outside settlements, particular their occurrence in native grasslands and heathlands as well as the dynamics of their spread over the islands. In many cases assessing the impact of an invasive species on entire food webs is very difficult due to a high species diversity within invaded habitats. However, the rather limited invertebrate diversity on the Falkland Island provides an ideal background for such an approach. We propose to assess the threat of earwigs to indigenous ecosystem through a three year PhD project supervised by RHUL and CABI. An early start of the work, as early as 2017, is desirable for a number of reasons.