Pacific Magazine > Magazine > April 1, 2001

Pacific Notes

Pacific Notes

Islanders Critical of U.S. Missile Defense
For the Marshall Islands, missile testing brings more than $30 million annually into the local economy. But President Bush’s aim to deploy a missile defense system to protect the United States is worrying some Pacific leaders.

Nauru’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Vinci Clodumar, questioned national missile defense system at the East West Center-sponsored Conference of Pacific Island Leaders in January. American Samoa Congressional Representative Eni Faleomavaega in an interview also criticized the Bush administration’s gung-ho attitude on NMD.

Kwajalein missile launch.

Following a talk to Pacific leaders by U.S. Admiral and Commander-in-Chief Pacific Dennis Blair on reduced American security concerns in the Pacific, Clodumar questioned the Admiral about the NMD plan. Missile defense is "very sensitive to disarmament" and has angered many U.S. allies in Europe, he said. Clodumar said that if a missile defense system is ever used, fallout from missile intercepts could land on islands, which would "not be in the best interests of the Pacific."

Blair didn’t address Clodumar’s concerns, saying only that full debate on NMD is just beginning. He added that the issues raised by Clodumar needed to be factored into a variety of technical and diplomatic considerations for NMD.

Faleomavaega said he is skeptical of missile defense, and didn’t agree with the estimated $100 billion investment needed to deploy NMD when a terrorist doesn’t need to use a missile to cause mass destruction in America. He said he’d rather the U.S. government spent its money on upgrading conventional weapons and "taking care of our soldiers and sailors" than spend billions for a system that may not work.

Meanwhile, the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior left Auckland, New Zealand in mid-February for the Kwajalein missile range. The Rainbow Warrior will be on site in the Marshall Islands by mid-March in preparation for upcoming NMD tests. Greenpeace said it hopes to meet with Marshallese leaders and the Kwajalein missile range command and will hold open boat days so it can discuss its campaign to stop the Star Wars program. —Giff Johnson

Palau Takes On Space Age Role
The National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) has taken the first steps toward building a tracking station in Palau for monitoring satellite launches. As NASDA moves to expand its scientific and commercial launches, it needs new tracking facilities — and the Palau government has agreed in principle with the plan. A tracking antenna, operations building, offices and a power generating facility will be built.

In order to track a rocket after launch, NASDA has built or is proposing to build several downrange tracking stations. NASDA already has tracking stations for geo-stationary transfer orbit launches on Ogasawara Island, Christmas Island and at Santiago, Chile. In order to monitor sun synchronous orbit (SSO) launches, NASDA is proposing facilities on Guam, Palau and at Perth, Australia. SSO satellites will be used to observe weather, pollution, climate change and deforestation.

The main purpose of the Palau downrange station is to monitor the progress of the flight from its launching. Information received at the Palau station will be transferred to the NASDA Tanegashima Space Center in Japan.

Palau was chosen as one of the sites for a downrange station because it lies along the nominal launch path of the H-IIA vehicle. Other locales in Micronesia were considered, but Palau has the added advantage of offering sufficient infrastructure to support the project. NASDA will lease land from the Palau Pacific Resort atop Mount Ngerakebesang in the state of Koror. While the area contains ancient terracing and traditional stone platforms, senior NASDA engineer Takahisa Sato said they will work closely with local authorities to ensure that the impact on cultural and natural resources is minimal.

All that is required now is regulatory approval and radio licensing. Construction is scheduled to begin in May, while the equipment will be installed early in 2002. The facility should be operational by October 2002, in time for launches now scheduled for November and December of that year. While the facility will only be used for eight to twelve weeks every year, during those active periods it will be critical to mission success. —By Lorne Holyoak

Tuna Industry Underwrites FSM Economy
The Federated States of Micronesia’s vast fishing ground is critically important to its national economy, as shown by a recent joint FSM government Micronesian Fisheries Authority and Asian Development Bank study. It reported: • From 1991-99, an estimated 1,250,300 tons of tuna was caught in the FSM’s Exclusive Economic Zone. • Foreign-owned long-line, pole and line and purse seine vessels account for more than 90 percent of the catch, and paid over $170 million in EEZ access fees to the FSM since 1979.

Tuna caught in FSM waters.

• In 1999 access fees represented an estimated 22 percent of total domestic revenue for the national government. • An estimated 57 tons of tuna is caught by small-scale commercial fishermen, while the annual subsistence catch is about 1,900 tons. • Direct employment in the tuna industry accounts for about seven percent of all private sector jobs. Considering the importance of tuna to the FSM, use and conservation issues are critical. The government has just formulated and adopted a comprehensive tuna management plan. The plan’s key objectives: • Continue to obtain national revenue from foreign fishing access agreements. • Support development of FSM-owned and/or foreign FSM-based fishing enterprises. • Encourage investment in enterprises related to tuna fisheries, and promote employment opportunities. • Ensure that the tuna catch does not exceed sustainable levels. — By Robert Gillett