|
Is she or isn’t she?
PM calls for island-wide ‘tidy up’
Cold snap
Kia Orana gift baskets for leaders
Unpaid tax revealed
New reward
Reward increased
Polynesian leaders want a cable
Trade issues on agenda
Mauke makes Forum ei
Petition aims to ‘arrest’ mining
Gillard on gender
Cook Islanders rally for shark sanctuary
Fishermen support shark protection
Let
sharks go!
Is she or isn’t she?
Thu
23 Aug
|
|
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
12082246
|
The US State Department is still refusing to confirm whether or not Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will turn up on Rarotonga’s shores next week. But there are a few telling signs.
Clinton’s accommodation has been booked (a private home), her security convoy has already arrived, and Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has extended her stay so as to catch Clinton on the tail end of her trip – to indicate she is factoring the Forum into her schedule.
Rumours that husband and former US president Bill Clinton will accompany her are as yet unsubstantiated. So, too, are reports that the US Navy is moving large ships toward the Cook Islands to prepare for Clinton’s visit.
Cook Islands News has confirmation, however, that Clinton’s security guards have already checked in.
”A number of American people who have an involvement in (Hillary Clinton’s) possible visit will have arrived by the time this goes to print,“ media liaison officer Derek Fox said yesterday afternoon.
”I think there is a bit of pussy-footing around but in reality people are planning for her arrival.“
Fox says he has no knowledge of whether Hillary will be bringing Bill in tow.
While Clinton and other high-profile leaders are likely to be travelling with their own security personnel, Fox emphasises that security arrangements are the responsibility of the Cook Islands Police (and the New Zealand officers sworn in to assist them during the Forum).
”It’s expected that a number of leaders including for New Zealand and Australia – and Clinton, if she comes – will have personal security but official security arrangements are up to the Cook Islands Police,“ he said.
Clinton is likely to arrive next Thursday afternoon aboard her own aircraft, and to breakfast with Pacific leaders the following morning in Avarua.
American media has speculated that developments in the Middle East could potentially derail Clinton’s plans to attend the post-Forum dialogue.
PM calls for island-wide ‘tidy up’
Thu
23 Aug
|
|
Prime Minister Henry Puna meets with Forum logistics coordinator Jaewynn McKay, foreign affairs secretary Jim Gosselin, deputy prime minister Tom Marsters and finance minister Mark Brown to discuss Forum arrangements.
12082251
|
Prime Minister Henry Puna meets with Forum logistics coordinator Jaewynn McKay, foreign affairs secretary Jim Gosselin, deputy prime minister Tom Marsters and finance minister Mark Brown to discuss Forum arrangements. 12082251
Cold snap
Thu
23 Aug
The cold weather has continued this week, mostly thanks to a cold front that has moved across to the Cook Islands from New Zealand.
Maara Vaiimene, operations manager at the Meteorological Service, says the cold weather was due to the culmination of three weather systems – a cold front moving from the eastwards from New Zealand over the weekend which caused a drop in temperatures, a high pressure system which brought about clear skies at night that assisted with the temperature drop, and light winds from the south/southeast.
Tuesday was the coldest morning in Rarotonga so far this year, with 13.4°C, recorded at the Met Service site in Nikao. This is the lowest temperature for August in the last five years, with the record low at 9.8°C back in 1965.
In Mangaia the temperatures have been even cooler, with 12.4°C recorded at one residence on the island.
Vaiimene says that it is usual for July and August to be the peak of cool season in the Cook Islands.
With September just around the corner, temperatures are set to increase with the arrival of spring, growing warmer and wetter from December.
Kia Orana gift baskets for leaders
Sat
25 Aug
|
|
12082427
|
As well as the friendly smiles of the Cook Islands people – leaders arriving on the island for the Pacific Leaders Forum will receive a unique gift basket.
The Kia Orana basket is stocked with beautiful Cook Islands products.
Forum logistics coordinator Jaewynn McKay is pictured here with a number of the Kia Orana gift baskets for the 16 leaders attending the week-long series of meetings and discussions.
The kikau baskets include Rito Cook Islands oils and soaps, Te Tika cosmetic products, playing cards by local artist Joan Cragg, postcards printed by CINews.PRINT, sun dried bananas or piere and a ready to wear hand painted pareu to name a few of the goodies.
The baskets will be in the rooms at the ready when leaders arrive.
Delegates following their leaders will receive re-usable bags packed with all the information on the forum including meeting schedules for the 43rd gathering of Pacific leaders and international observers.
Unpaid tax revealed
Sat
25 Aug
Two businesses are holding off to see if the Cook Islands Sport and National Olympic Committee (CISNOC) can avoid paying its outstanding value-added tax bill and could follow suit.
Triathlon representative Geoff Stoddard revealed this at CISNOC’s annual general meeting on Thursday night.
It means the $312,780 loss the sports body posted could be further inflated to $372,780 after the tax debt is added on.
The sporting organisation is believed to be owing almost $60,000 in value-added tax (VAT) that the executive board thought it was exempt from.
But a letter dated June 2010 and tabled at an executive board meeting revealed something different.
”At an executive board meeting on 15 June 2010, the president of CISNOC advised board members that the organisation was subject to VAT and tabled a letter from the tax office to that effect,“ Stoddard said.
”The board has been on notice that they are subject to VAT. In 2010 the tax department put CISNOC on notice and there should be $60,000 added to balance liabilities.
”I know of two businesses who owe quite a bit but they’re holding off to see if CISNOC get off and will then ask them to let them off.“
Despite his pleas for people to consider this information and to defer the accounts until they were able to be discussed at a separate meeting, the board voted in favour of receiving the accounts by a margin of 20-16.
New reward
Sat
25 Aug
Yet another monetary reward is being offered for information leading to arrest, by a man disgruntled at how slow the police investigation has been.
Mann Short, of Muri Beach Builders, had his tools stolen ”about three weeks“ ago from his truck, which was parked unlocked outside his Matavera house.
A new J20 Ramset nailgun in an orange case and a nearly new Makita rotary power drill have gone missing.
He is now offering a $200 reward to anyone who can get his tools back to him, and would like to see the thief apprehended.
Short warns other builders to watch out for their tools as there may be a repeat offender out there – apparently a builder working on the Atiu Hostel site had his tools stolen recently, too.
He also asks any builder who is approached with an offer of cheap tools to contact him.
Short said he is offering the reward to prompt action, as he is concerned police are not following up his complaint.
”I’ve been ringing up every day, but a senior officer told me they had more important things to look into.
”I’m worried they are not taking it seriously and I’m not happy with it.“
Inspector Tere Patia says police are still investigating.
But Short has decided to take action into his own hands, inspired by the vigilante group that motel manager Malcolm Laxton-Blinkhorn recently set up.
Laxton-Blinkhorn created the special security squad – which uses strong-arm tactics to deal with suspects and recover stolen goods – to help solve the island’s rising crime rate, after his motel was burgled twice in one week.
For any information on the missing tools, call Short on 54254.
Reward increased
Sat
25 Aug
|
|
Zeb Autaua’s grandmother has contributed to the reward.
12082325
|
The reward offered for information leading to the arrest of the man responsible for brutally beating Zeb Autaua last Saturday morning has increased eight times overnight.
Aucklander Florence Syme-Buchanan was first to offer a reward of $100 for information leading to the arrest of the person who bashed CINews employee Autaua a week ago.
This reward has now increased to $800.
The young man’s grandmother, Dorothy Autaua, yesterday chipped in $100.
”I’m so angry and upset,“ said Dorothy, who is looked after in Rarotonga by her grandson. ”Zeb wouldn’t harm a fly. I just want to see the person who attacked him caught.“
Autaua was left with two black eyes, and needed surgery in New Zealand after his jaw was broken in two places.
He went to the aid of a friend in a scuffle that started in Rehab Nightclub and Bar in the early hours of last Saturday.
Police stationed outside allegedly ignored their complaints about the fight.
There were reportedly a number of fights that broke out in the carpark outside the bar after closing time.
Autaua was attacked from behind as he was walking down the Avarua main street.
It is not clear at this stage whether the person who attacked him was involved in the fight inside Rehab.
The bar’s owners Jane Mitchell and Scott Arlander are also contributing to the reward – with $500.
”We are very sickened and saddened by what happened and want the culprits caught and punished,“ says Mitchell.
A silent donor is offering $100, bringing the total reward up to $800.
A condition for the reward is that the witness must be willing to file a police report by making a witness statement. They must also be willing to testify if it ends up in court.
The reward will go to the person whose information leads to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrators.
If you have information regarding this assault, contact police on 22499 or call Cook Islands News on 22999.
Polynesian leaders want a cable
Mon
27 Aug
Polynesian leaders are hoping to alleviate the burden of their geographical isolation by sharing the costs and benefits of a fibre optic telecommunications cable.
It was an issue that featured heavily in discussions of the Polynesian Leaders Group (PLG) meeting on Saturday, according to Prime Minister Henry Puna and Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Malielegaoi, who briefed media at the conclusion of their gathering.
”Right now we are facing a problem with the marine cable,“ Malielegaoi said. ”ICT (information and communication technology) is so important to our group, it is the only way that we’ll eliminate the isolation.“
He noted that two cable initiatives have recently failed for lack of funding – one involving a cable from Tahiti Nui to New Caledonia and the other, a linkage from New Zealand past Samoa and Tonga.
”As of the first of August that has bankrupted so we are now moving to other alternatives like the connection of a marine cable between Fiji, Tonga and Samoa – (this is) one of the examples of the projects that are so important to the Polynesian Leaders Group which requires a more intensive focus in our discussion with our donor partners and other possible sources of funding,“ Malielegaoi said.
A cable project would require a start-up cost of about $20 million and subsequent payments maintenance and servicing. The magnitude of the investment means discussion surrounding the project is likely to be lengthy and complex.
”The geographical proximity of the Polynesian island countries makes it sensible that they be working together on issues such as cabling (and) ICT,“ Puna said.
”Virtually the cables run past other countries within the grouping, for example Niue is close to a cabling between Samoa and Tonga and of course the Cook Islands is also seriously looking at options for us to be connected to a cable.
”In that sense when you look at the geographical proximity of (our) countries it makes sense those issues be addressed at a much lower level than the Pacific-wide regional Forum approach.“
Also high on the PLG priority list is renewable energy and a spate of related issues, not least of which is the fixing of prices offered by solar energy production companies and power distribution companies (which in the Pacific are often government-owned).
Malielegaoi stressed that the PLG covered areas outlined in the Pacific Plan, its ultimate goal to ensure its member countries are adhering to the principles of the document.
The PLG has no official secretariat. Its administrative work, which has thus far been carried out mostly by Malielegaoi’s office, was this weekend delegated to a ”group of officials“. It is being tasked with making recommendations to the PLG by the end of this week.
Trade issues on agenda
Mon
27 Aug
|
|
Traditional hongi – Prime Minister Henry Puna greets Selwyn Parata, a tribal leader and head of the Aotearoa Maori delegation at Saturday’s Polynesian Leaders Meeting.
12082542
|
Forum leaders will this week be paying particular attention to regional trade agreements that govern the flow of goods and services between their nations.
The Forum Secretariat gave Pacific media a breakdown on Saturday of the regional agreements that will feature in this week’s plenary discussions, and while it was heavy on acronyms and light on details, it was nonetheless a roadmap to this week’s trade dialogue.
On the table are a host of documents and agreements that exist to facilitate inter-regional trade – ultimately, to give consumers a ”better range of products, more options and cheaper (products)“, explained director of economic governance at the Forum Secretariat Shiu Raj.
The agreements include SPARTECA, PICTA, PACER (a trade facilitation programme, as opposed to a trade agreement) and several bilateral agreements.
A tangible benefit of PICTA, for example, is that whereas Fiji might pay a 32 percent duty rate on a Tahitian pearl, it pays none on a Cook Islands pearl.
This and other trade agreements will be the focus of extensive discussion this week.
Negotiations with the European Union ahead of an economic partnership agreement (EPA) meeting in October are up for discussion as Pacific ACP states finalise their submissions.
Issues around rules of origin, export taxes, tariffs and the circulation of goods will also feature prominently in meetings this week.
Priority issues for the region, Raj explained, are things like regional labour mobility, development assistance for trade infrastructure like shipping and aviation and telecommunications, trade development and facilitation, and customs procedures.
There will also be discussions on the implementation of PICTA trade in services and negotiations centred on the temporary movement of natural persons, and updates to the aid for trade strategy.
Mauke makes Forum ei
Tue
28 Aug
|
|
12082736
|
Mauke island businessman Taratoa Metuariki shows off the Tiare Maori and ara (pandanus fruit) ei his business Maire Akatoka is providing for VIPs attending the 43rd Pacific Leaders Forum.
Yesterday two boxes of 42 ei karaponga or ei kaki (neck ei) were flown in from the island of Mauke for guests at the Oceanscape dinner at Tamarind House.
Metuariki says today another shipment of the prized maire will arrive for the official opening of the Forum at the National Auditorium at 5pm.
Metuariki says that he has the contract to provide ei for the two events and knows that other small family businesses on Rarotonga have also been contracted to make ei for arriving dignitaries as well as to adorn leaders at the various functions and meetings throughout the week-long gathering of Pacific leaders and international observers.
Petition aims to ‘arrest’ mining
Tue
28 Aug
A petition bearing over 8000 signatures is being circulated amongst Forum participants this week as part of a regional effort to arrest seabed mining projects in the Pacific.
A coalition of non-government organisations, which includes the Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG) and Act Now! PNG, is here on Rarotonga to raise awareness about deep seabed mining in the Pacific, taking advantage of the opportunity to reach leaders from around the region who are gathering for the Pacific Islands Leaders Forum.
Their petition is based on a legal opinion from US-based Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (eLAW) that the ‘precautionary principle’ – the theory that if an action or policy is suspected of being harmful to the public or environment and there is no scientific consensus, those people or groups taking the action have a responsibility to prove it is not – applies to seabed mining in the Pacific.
The opinion concludes: ”There is great uncertainty whether undersea ecosystems, especially vent features that have been created over thousands of years, can withstand the damage and destruction caused by deep seabed mining. In accordance with the precautionary principle, Pacific Island nations should follow the example set by Australia’s northern territory and institute a moratorium on deep seabed mining. The risks and uncertainties of seabed mining are too great to allow mining activities to proceed with the expectation that the damage can be reversed“.
PANG coordinator Maureen Penjuli convened a press conference with Pacific media yesterday to talk about the petition and publicly launch the eLAW legal opinion. She is alarmed at the pace of an SPC deep sea minerals project – which is providing technical assistance to the 15 Pacific-ACP states, of which the Cook Islands is one – as she says it is proceeding too quickly for her coalition to be able to raise ample regional awareness of its petition in time.
That’s why she considers it paramount to be present at this week’s Forum.
Penjuli yesterday launched eLAW’s 10-page legal opinion, which does not condemn mining activity, but supports a moratorium until gaps in the research and science around deep seabed mining have been filled.
At present Tonga, Nauru and the Cook Islands are pursuing exploratory mining programmes, and a Korean company is reportedly in the process of procuring a licence to mine in Fiji’s seabed. Canadian company Nautilus Minerals is mining under New Ireland in Papua New Guinea, where communities are rallying to protest against the political processes that led to the licensing of the project and mining in general.
The area being marked off for exploration of mining potential in the region is twice the size of the combined land mass of all Pacific nations.
mining ‘caution’ – page 11.
Gillard on gender
Tue
28 Aug
A multi-million dollar plan to lift the dismal rate of women holding political office in small Pacific island nations will be unveiled by Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard this week.
Talks with Nauru and Papua New Guinea over the Labour Party’s bid to revive the Pacific Solution for asylum seekers will be high on Gillard’s agenda, as will plans to improve the lot of women in the Pacific.
A much-anticipated guest appearance by US secretary of state Hillary Clinton on Friday is also expected to reinforce the need to lift the rate of women in politics in the Pacific region, ranked worst in the world.
Despite heavy investment of foreign aid over decades, Nauru and Micronesia have no women in parliament at all and only a handful of female MPs are scattered among the rest. The Cook Islands has two female parliamentarians, following the election of Selina Napa to the Titikaveka seat earlier this year.
Inter-Parliamentary Union figures show only 14.5 per cent of Pacific MPs are women, a lower ranking than in Arab countries (14.7 percent) and well behind the Americas (almost 23 percent). The Nordic states lead with 42 percent.
The worldwide average of women in parliament is 20 percent.
Cook Islanders rally for shark sanctuary
Wed
29 Aug
|
|
12062222
|
Sharks are more important to Cook Islanders than many people think.
”For a lot of us and a lot of Cook Islands people, the shark has always been in our families. A lot of our families use the shark, use the mango, as a protector, a family guardian, which makes it even more important for people of the Cook Islands to protect the lives of these creatures of the ocean,“ says Tua Pittman, traditional navigator and voyager, when asked why he supports a shark sanctuary in the Cooks.
Akono Te Mango is the message, and its collective voice grows louder with each passing week.
It’s heard on the television and radio, displayed on t-shirts, posters, stickers, and proclaimed in letters and interviews.
Young local women Kate Ngatokorua, Marion Marsters and Miss Cook Islands Teuira Napa walk around the Saturday markets with a shark protection petition while emcee Danny Mataroa uses both his humour and his presence on stage to garner more support.
Alex Olah, a voyager fresh off of Marumaru Atua, conveyed his sentiments for shark protection with Titikaveka College students this week. He saw the effects of shark fishing first hand as he travelled around the Pacific, experiences which were shared with Prime Minister Henry Puna as he sailed from Aitutaki to Rarotonga with the crew.
Local community groups, schools, traditional leaders and even Vaitoti Tupa, the Director of the National Environment Service, have stated their support for a shark sanctuary.
Mangaia, Palmerston and Manihiki have pledged island-wide support while Cook Islands commercial boats have publicly stated that they have no interest in catching or retaining sharks. And surprisingly – it’s not enough.
It’s no secret that the shark fin trade is destroying shark populations worldwide, sending some species like the scalloped hammerhead shark, to the brink of extinction.
While the Cook Islands Ministry of Marine Resources has a National Plan of Action for Sharks, it leaves too many loopholes for foreign companies to continue to exploit sharks and makes enforcement complicated.
Fishermen support shark protection
Wed
29 Aug
Terrence Nightingale, Captain of Cook Islands longline boat FV Viking Spirit, says, ”We don’t have any interest in catching sharks. We set them free.“
Terry’s testimony resonated as the Pacific Islands Conservation Initiative (PICI) proposed regulations for the creation of a shark sanctuary that would ban all retention of sharks on commercial longline vessels.
In fact, Allen Mills of Aitutaki Fisheries Limited wrote a letter to Cabinet Ministers expressing full support for the creation of a Cook Islands Shark Sanctuary in the EEZ.
”As commercial fishermen ourselves for almost 35 years we have found most species of shark of no commercial value and in fact a heavy cost on our operation when caught as by-catch. As such we do not target them but try and avoid them and as they are an important part of the ecosystem they should be left to their part.“
Cook Islands based company Ocean Fresh also expressed their support for the creation of a shark sanctuary in the entire Cook Islands EEZ by stating ”Ocean Fresh Ltd has been fishing commercially in the Cook Islands for six years and supply the domestic Rarotonga market as well as act as an export agent for fish exports out of Rarotonga.“
Bill Doherty’s letter continues, ”The only way to save the shark is to have a complete ban on commercial fishing [of shark].“
Sharks are a natural by-catch of the tuna fishery, but when untargeted, Dr Shelley Clarke, Technical Director of Marine Resources Assessment Group, estimates that shark by-catch totals only one shark per 1000 hooks.
That number substantially increases with the use of trace or braided wire, which sharks are unable to bite through. Banning the use of the fishing gear used to target sharks does not affect tuna catch and is an important part of shark protection.
Anecdotal evidence from Cook Islands fishermen, who do not use trace wire, back up this data by stating that they may catch two to three sharks per day, and that it’s easier to set them free, leaving room in freezers for tuna and swordfish, their target species.
As the proposed Cook Island Shark Sanctuary is targeted at commercial operators and has no proposed regulations on local sport or artisan fishing, both the Cook Islands Fishing Association and the Cook Islands Game Fishing Club have said they ”strongly urge government to enact this suggestion“.
In a letter signed by Peter Etches, Secretary for CIGF, it was suggested that ”very heavy penalties be imposed on any foreign vessel found to have any shark product amongst its catch“.
The creation of a shark sanctuary in the Cook Islands exclusive economic zone would make it illegal for commercial vessels to target sharks, retain any shark as a product of by-catch, sell, trade, barter or export any shark product. It also bans the use of lines and fishing gear, such as trace wire, which is used to target sharks.
Let
sharks go!
Wed
29 Aug
The shark sanctuary’s message is plain and simple – let sharks go. Banning the retention of sharks on board commercial longline vessels lessens the workload for Te Kukupa and even offers the country revenue from fines.
The Marshall Islands, who established their shark sanctuary in October last year, has already realised $235,000 in shark sanctuary infringement fines.
In addition to the cultural significance and enhancing enforcement capabilities, shark protection aligns with conventions of both national and international significance.
In 1992, the Cook Islands became one of the first signatories on the Convention on Biological Diversity in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, committing the nation to preserve species and ecosystem biodiversity, and leading the charge for other island nations to follow suit.
Today, shark sanctuaries exist in the waters surrounding the Pacific Island nations of Palau, Tokelau, and the Marshall Islands, as well as in the Maldives, the Bahamas and Honduras. Specific shark fin bans recently passed in Guam, Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, and in Toronto, Canada. Sharks have legislative protection in the United States of California, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii.
Gerald McCormack, Director of the Natural Heritage Trust, states, ”Sharks are highly migratory, apex predators and are an important component to ecosystem balance.“ He says there should be a complete ban on [shark fishing] in the Cooks. ”The Cooks would join a small community of shark supporters and have the ability to set a regional example to keep the Cook Islands pro-environment, in the same way we care for birds“.
In light of Prime Minister Henry Puna’s commitment to a ‘clean and green’ nation, the creation of a shark sanctuary wins gold.
Coupled with the nation’s declaration to protect whales, a nearly 2 million square km shark sanctuary would make the Cook Islands the vanguard in marine species protection in the world. Add these total EEZ protection measures for sharks and whales to the more recent commitment to creating a marine park, and Cook Islanders can feel proud that their nation is serious about preserving marine resources for future generations.
”As Polynesians, we should value the most precious creatures in the ocean,“ says Pa Teuruaa. And by creating a shark sanctuary in Cook Islands waters, the nation provides a shining example to the world on how Polynesians mean to do just that.
|
