Mike Bingham

Dr Mike Bingham is a marine biologist, political activist and author. He was born in Sutton Coldfield, England, on 14 June 1958. Following an early career in car racing, during which he was employed by the TWR Jaguar Racing Team, Bingham returned to qualify as a biological surveyor. During the 1990s, whilst employed as Conservation Officer for the Falkland Islands (British Overseas Territory) he published the results of an island-wide penguin census, which uncovered an 80% decline in Falklands penguins since the establishment of the Falkland Islands commercial fishing industry just 10 years earlier.

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Mike Bingham was dismissed as Conservation Officer for making this information public, and the Falkland Islands Government attempted to deport him on a number of charges. When it came to light that the evidence against Bingham had been fabricated, Bingham was cleared of all charges, and the story of false arrest and harassment hit the British newspapers.

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The Falkland Islands Government then tried to deport Bingham on the grounds that he had "criticised the state of the Falkland Islands environment and the role of Government in its protection". These grounds were stated in writing in a letter from the Governor of the Falkland Islands to Mike Bingham in 2003.

Knowing that under British democracy it was illegal to deport somebody for criticising government, Mike Bingham took the Governor, the Attorney General, and the entire Executive Council of the Falkland Islands to the Supreme Court. Despite being up against the highest members of government, Bingham won his case. The Supreme Court Judge ruled that the Governor, the Attorney General, and members of the Executive Council had committed acts that were legally and morally indefensible.

Again the verdict was widely reported in the newspapers, and Mike Bingham published a book entitled "The Falklands Regime" detailing the corruption within government that had led up to the trial. The book was so successful that it was later translated into Spanish also, under the title of "El Regimen de las Malvinas".

The story was also featured on BBC2 (British television) in their series "EXPLORE: Patagonia to the Pampas" first transmitted on 25 January 2009.

In 1997 Mike Bingham set up Chile's first long-term penguin monitoring programme, with funding from the British and Chilean governments. In 2003 Bingham set up a similar programme in Argentina. Both programmes are still running to this day.

Following his Supreme Court victory in 2003, Bingham moved to South America, where he overseas the penguin monitoring programmes in Chile and Argentina under the auspices of the Organization for the Conservation of Penguins.

References

1. ^ Bingham, M. (1998) The distribution, abundance and population trends of Gentoo, Rockhopper and King penguins at the Falkland Islands. Orxy 32(3): 223-32.
2. ^ Bingham, M. (1998) Penguins of South America and the Falkland Islands. Penguin Conservation 11(1): 8-15.
3. ^ Bingham M. and Mejias E. (1999) Penguins of the Magellan Region. Scientia Marina Vol:63, Supl. 1: 485-493
4. ^ Bingham, M. (2002) The decline of Falkland Islands penguins in the presence of a commercial fishing industry. Revista Chilena de Historia Natural 75: 805-818.
5. ^ The Daily Post, 23rd November 1999: Arrested, framed, accused and threatened - Researcher fights a one-man war in the Falklands
6. ^ The Sunday Times, Sunday 10th October 1999: Falklands in feud over lost penguins
7. ^ The Observer, Sunday 10th October 1999: The Truth is never black and white, even if you're a penguin
8. ^ The Guardian, Tuesday 12th October 1999: A fine mess Stanley
9. ^ The Mail on Sunday, 25th February 2001: Rejoice, Rejoice!
10. ^ The Sunday Independent, 9th June 2002: Plight of Falklands starving penguins
11. ^ Index on Censorship, Volume 28 No5, September 1999: Enemy of the People
12. ^ Birdwatch Magazine, February 2000: Trouble in Paradise
13. ^ New Scientist, 14th June 2002: One quarter of world's Rockhoppers might have starved
14. ^ Private Eye, May 2003: The Penguin Man

External links

• example.com

Falklands Regime:

• http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=27877

El Regimen de las Malvinas:

• http://www.lsf.com.ar/libros/00/REGIMEN-DE-LAS-

MALVINAS-EL/

Penguins of the Falkland Islands and South America:

• http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=6546

SCIENTIFIC ARTICLES:

• http://www.seabirds,org/research.htm

NEWSPAPER ARTICLES:

• http://www.seabirds.org/newspapers.htm

TV APPEARANCES:

• http://www.seabirds.org/paramount.htm