French Southern and Antarctic Lands

Several of the islands within this territory were originally discovered as part of the Sea Route to India. The Portuguese discovered Saint Paul Island in the sixteenth century; in the seventeenth century, the Dutch became the first to land on (and name) Amsterdam Island. The French discovered the Crozet Islands some time later, in the eighteenth century; the other islands were also first explored by Europeans within this time frame.

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 Florence Jeanblanc-Risler,[10][11] with headquarters in Saint Pierre on Réunion Island.

The TAAF administration, the French Polar Institute Paul-Émile Victor (IPEV) and the French Navy jointly operate the icebreaker Astrolabe which is based out of Reunion. The vessel is used both to bring personnel and supplies to the Dumont d'Urville Station and for research and patrol duties. [12]

The territory is divided into five districts:

^a According to new law 2007-224 of February 21, 2007, the Scattered Islands constitute the TAAF's fifth district.[13] The TAAF website does not mention their population. The data are not included in the totals.
^b The Îles Éparses principal station is on Tromelin Island. The headquarters of the district chief lies beyond the TAAF, in Saint Pierre on Réunion Island.
^c The Territory's principal station is Martin-de-Viviès on Amsterdam Island. The capital and headquarters of the territorial administrator lies beyond the TAAF, 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.

Map of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands.
Adélie Land (in Antarctica) and Banc du Geyser and Bassas da India (in the Îles Éparses district) are not shown.

Kerguelen cabbages on Île Mayès, Kerguelen

The territory includes the Crozet Islands, the Kerguelen Islands, and the Saint Paul and Amsterdam 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.

Volcan du Diable on Grande Terre, Kerguelen

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. This register, however, is to vanish, replaced by the International French Register (Registre International Français, RIF).

Due to their isolation, the French islands in the southern Indian Ocean comprise one of the last remaining large wilderness areas on Earth.[15] Furthermore, the islands are positioned along the Antarctic Convergence, where upwelling creates nutrient-rich waters.[16] 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.[15] 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.[16] 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.[16] 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, with both Saint-Paul and Crozet having no native tree or shrub species.[17] However, eight of the 36 higher plant species are endemic.[18] 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.[16]

A proportional representation of French Southern and Antarctic Lands exports, 2019

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.[19]

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.

The French Southern Territories (i.e. the TAAF excluding Adélie Land) have been given the following country codes: FS (FIPS) and TF (ISO 3166-1 alpha-2).

• Administrative divisions of France
• French colonial empire
• French Fifth Republic
• List of French islands in the Indian and Pacific oceans
• List of French possessions and colonies
• Outline of France
• Overseas France

Wikimedia Commons has media related to French Southern and Antarctic Lands.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for French Southern and Antarctic Lands.

• Official website
• Wikimedia Atlas of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands
• French Southern and Antarctic Lands – official French website (in English)
• French Southern and Antarctic Lands. The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency.
• French Southern Territories at Curlie
• Southern & Antarctic Territories
• Crozet Archipelago
• Kerguelen Archipelago
• Terre Adélie