The French Southern and Antarctic Lands (Terres australes et antarctiques françaises, TAAF) is an Overseas Territory (TOM) of France. It consists of:
- Adélie Land (Terre Adélie), the French claim on the continent of Antarctica.
- Crozet Islands (Îles Crozet), a group in the southern Indian Ocean, south of Madagascar.
- Kerguelen Islands (Archipel des Kerguelen), a group of volcanic islands in the southern Indian Ocean, southeast of Africa, approximately equidistant between Africa, Antarctica and Australia.
- Saint Paul and Amsterdam Islands (Îles Saint Paul et Amsterdam), a group to the north of the Kerguelen Islands.
- The Scattered Islands (Îles Éparses), a dispersed group of islands around the coast of Madagascar.
The territory is sometimes referred to as the French Southern Lands (French: Terres australes françaises) or the French Southern Territories, usually to emphasize non-recognition of French sovereignty over Adélie Land as part of the Antarctic Treaty System.
The entire territory has no permanently settled inhabitants. Approximately 150 (in the winter) to 310 (in the summer) persons are usually present in the French Southern and Antarctic Lands at any time, but they are mainly made up of military personnel, officials, scientific researchers and support staff.
On July 5, 2019, the Crozet, Kerguelen, and Saint Paul and Amsterdam Islands were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site as the “French Austral Lands and Seas” because of their pristine wilderness, biodiversity, and enormous bird colonies.
TAAF Flag
The flag of the French Southern and Antarctic Territories, which includes Adélie Land, has the French tricolor in the canton together with the Commissioner’s logotype. The logotype consists of five stars which represent the administrative districts that make up the territory two of which are archipelagos Îles Crozet & Îles Kerguelen. The third district is made up of Île Saint-Paul and Île Amsterdam; the fourth, Îles Éparses, consists of five tropical islands scattered around Madagascar. The fifth district is the Antarctic portion which consists of “Adélie Land”.
The letters “TAAF” in the fly form a monogram (from the French name of the territory, Terres australes et antarctiques françaises). The flag was adopted on 23 February 2007, and was published in the Official Journal of the French Southern and Antarctic Territories on March 15, 2007. The flag had previously served as the flag of the High Commissioner of the Territory since 1958.
Administration
The French Southern and Antarctic Lands have formed a territoire d’outre-mer (an overseas territory) of France since 1955. Formerly, they were administered from Paris by an administrateur supérieur assisted by a secretary-general; since December 2004, however, their administrator has been a préfet, currently Charles Giusti, with headquarters in Saint Pierre on Réunion Island.
Each district is headed by a district chief, who has powers similar to those of a French mayor (including recording births and deaths and being an officer of judicial police).
Because there is no permanent population, there is no elected assembly, nor does the territory send representatives to the national parliament.
The territory is divided into five districts:
- Adélie Land (Terre Adélie)
- Crozet Islands (Îles Crozet)
- Kerguelen Islands (Archipel des Kerguelen)
- Saint Paul and Amsterdam Islands (Îles Saint Paul et Amsterdam)
- The Scattered Islands (Îles Éparses)
Geography
The territory includes Amsterdam Island, Saint Paul Island, the Crozet Islands, and the Kerguelen Islands in the southern Indian Ocean near 43°S, 67°E, along with Adélie Land, the sector of Antarctica claimed by France, named by the French explorer Jules Dumont d’Urville after his wife.
Adélie Land (about 432,000 km2 or 167,000 sq mi) and the islands, totaling 7,781 km2 (3,004 sq mi), have no indigenous inhabitants, though in 1997 there were about 100 researchers whose numbers varied from winter (July) to summer (January).
Amsterdam Island and Saint Paul Island are extinct volcanoes and have been delineated as the Amsterdam and Saint-Paul Islands temperate grasslands ecoregion. The highest point in the territory is Mont Ross on Kerguelen Island at 1,850 m (6,070 ft). There are very few airstrips on the islands, only existing on islands with weather stations, and the 1,232 km (766 mi) of coastline have no ports or harbors, only offshore anchorages.
The islands in the Indian Ocean are supplied by the special ship Marion Dufresne sailing out of Le Port in Réunion Island. Terre Adélie is supplied by L’Astrolabe sailing out of Hobart in Tasmania.
However, the territory has a merchant marine fleet totaling (in 1999) 2,892,911 GRT/5,165,713 tonnes deadweight (DWT), including seven bulk carriers, five cargo ships, ten chemical tankers, nine container ships, six liquefied gas carriers, 24 petroleum tankers, one refrigerated cargo ship, and ten roll-on-roll-off (RORO) carriers. This fleet is maintained as a subset of the French register that allows French-owned ships to operate under more liberal taxation and manning regulations than permissible under the main French register.
Flora & Fauna
Due to their isolation, the French islands in the southern Indian Ocean comprise one of the last remaining large wilderness areas on Earth. Furthermore, the islands are positioned along the Antarctic Convergence, where upwelling creates nutrient-rich waters. As a result, birds and marine mammals gather on the islands in great abundance. More than 50 million birds of 47 species breed on the islands, including more than half the breeding population of 16 different species.
The largest populations of king penguins and the endangered Indian yellow-nosed albatross on Earth are found on the Crozet Islands and Amsterdam Island, respectively. Other threatened bird species with important populations on the islands include Eaton’s pintail, MacGillivray’s prion, and the Amsterdam albatross, which is one of four bird species endemic to the island group.
The French Southern Lands also hold the second largest population of southern elephant seals on Earth, numbering roughly 200,000, and the third largest population of the Antarctic fur seal.
Because of their isolation and subpolar location, the French Southern Lands are relatively depauperate of vegetation, which both Saint-Paul and Crozet having no native tree or shrub species.[15] However, eight of the 36 higher plant species are endemic. Some species of endemic invertebrates have also been recorded on the islands, including moths and flies which have lost their wings in the absence of predators.
Economy
The territory’s natural resources are limited to fish and crustaceans. Economic activity is limited to servicing meteorological and geophysical research stations and French and other fishing fleets.
The main fish resources are Patagonian toothfish and spiny lobster. Both are poached by foreign fleets; because of this, the French Navy, and occasionally other services, patrol the zone and arrest poaching vessels. Such arrests can result in heavy fines and/or the seizure of the ship.
France previously sold licenses to foreign fisheries to fish the Patagonian toothfish; because of overfishing, it is now restricted to a small number of fisheries from Réunion Island.
The territory takes in revenues of about €16 million a year.
