The French Southern and Antarctic Lands (, TAAF) is an Overseas Territory ( or ) of France.
It consists of:
Adélie Land (), the French claim on the continent of Antarctica.
Crozet Islands (), a group in the southern Indian Ocean, south of Madagascar.
Kerguelen Islands (), 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 (), a group to the north of the Kerguelen Islands.
The Scattered Islands (), a dispersed group of islands around the coast of Madagascar.
The territory is sometimes referred to as the French Southern Lands () 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."
The TAAF do not have any permanent population."
On July 5, 2019, the French Austral Lands and Seas were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Administration
The French Southern and Antarctic Lands have formed a  (an overseas territory) of France since 1955.
Formerly, they were administered from Paris by an  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.
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.
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.
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 ) and the islands, totaling , 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 .
There are very few airstrips on the islands, only existing on islands with weather stations, and the  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/, 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).
Flora and fauna
Economy
upright=1.3|thumb|right|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.
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.
Codes
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).
See also
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
References
External links
French Southern and Antarctic Lands – official French website
French Southern and Antarctic Lands.
The World Factbook.
Central Intelligence Agency.
Southern & Antarctic Territories
Crozet Archipelago
Kerguelen Archipelago
Terre Adélie
