Pacific Notes
Pacific Notes
French Polynesia
Fire Aboard Liner
More than 100 tourists aboard the passenger ship Wind Song got a scare in early December when a fire broke out while the ship was cruising through French Polynesia. News reports said the fire broke out in the ship’s engine room, and then apparently spread to a storeroom.
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The French Navy towed the stricken ship into Papeete Harbor. The 127 passengers and most of the 92 crewmembers aboard the Wind Song were taken off shortly after the fire broke out. There were no reported injuries.
Tom Russell, a vice president with the liner’s parent company, Windstar, told reporters in early December that the Wing Song’s sister ship, Wind Star, would arrive at Tahiti in late January to resume cruise operations. The replacement ship was operating at Costa Rica.
Cruise line officials at press time were unable to detail the extent of damage to the Wind Song. Russell was quoted as saying, “There is little physical damage that we can see. Most of the damage we know is where the fire really took place, which is in the engine room, which is very difficult to replace and to repair.”
Last August, a fire also broke out on a schooner in the Tuamotu Archipelago. The ship eventually sank but the 28 passengers and crew aboard were saved.
—Tahitipresse
Fiji, Yap
Economic Development Grants Swapped for Saving Environment
Seacology, an American environmental NGO, announced new environmental projects it is funding in the Pacific. They include one in Yap, Federated States of Micronesia and three in Fiji:
In Yap, the organization will help establish the Dalipebinaw forest reserve and restore the Tamilyog Stone Path on Yap. (Yap is one of four states that comprise the Federated States of Micronesia.) It has a population of 11,200 with a total land area of 50 square miles, spread out over 100,000 square miles of ocean. Yap has managed to keep its traditional culture relatively intact, with stone money and long houses still in use throughout the island.
One of the most notable remnants of traditional Yapese culture is the ancient Tamilyog Stone Path, which connects the eastern and western sides of the island. Today, much of the Tamilyog Stone Path is overgrown and some sections are buried due to disuse and neglect. The Dalipebinaw municipality is setting aside 75 acres of native forest adjacent to the path as a protected reserve. In exchange for this sacrifice, Seacology is providing the funding for the restoration of the Tamilyog Stone Path.
In Fiji, a water storage tank will be built in exchange for preserving rainforest near Nasigasiga Village, Vanua Levu Island. Nasigasiga Village is 40 miles from the nearest town. The 228 villagers have below average incomes, even by Fijian standards. The existing 6,500-gallon water tank constructed 15 years ago is now insufficient for the growing population. During the dry season there is no longer sufficient potable water and the use of non-pure water has become a major health issue. In exchange for the village setting aside 332 acres of primary forest to be protected in perpetuity, Seacology is providing a new water tank and water delivery system for the village.
Also in Fiji, Seacology will fund construction of a kindergarten and upgrading a community hall in exchange for the establishment of a no-take marine reserve, Naikorokoro Village. Naikorokoro Village is located on the island of Ovalau.
Ovalau has played an important role in Fiji’s history as it is home of the nation’s first capital, Levuka. Naikorokoro is located two miles away from Levuka Town. There are two mataqali (tribes) in Naikorokoro, which has a population of 107 people. Due to its proximity to Levuka, much of the waters near Naikorokoro have been over-fished. The village is establishing a no-take marine reserve for 10 years in a 17 square mile section of their traditional fishing area.
—Scott Whitney
Palau
Two Airlines Make Peace
A cease fire was reached in the battle between two airlines serving the Palau-Taiwan air corridor, when representatives of Far Eastern Air Transport (FAT) and Palau Trans Pacific Air (PTPA) met with the Palau Visitors Authority (PVA), private tourist concessionaires and members of Palau's national government on December 3, 2002. The two airlines agreed to work together to coordinate their flight plans to ensure mutual profitability and to prevent Palau's tourism facilities from being swamped by a sudden influx of visitors from Taiwan.
The government was pleased as well. “The meeting got our concerns across to the airlines,” said Palau Minister of Commerce and Trade Otoichi Besebes.
The dispute flared after November 20, when PTPA began twice-weekly flights between Palau and Taiwan on planes leased from Mandarin Airlines, FAT's primary competitor in Taiwan. FAT had previously been the only airline flying the Palau route and responded to PTPA’s incursion by slashing its fares and applying for permission to bring four additional flights into Palau each week.
Palau denied the request. Besebes explained that the decision was due to the government's desire to regulate the number of tourists entering the country and its belief that FAT’s actions were intended to undermine the fledgling PTPA.
After the intercession of Palau’s Ambassador to Taiwan, Johnson Toribiong, FAT received permission from the Palau Aviation Review Committee on November 27 to land seven additional flights in Palau during the month of December. But “there will be no more approvals,” Besebes said, “until we assess the situation in terms of the market.”
FAT’s difficulties in Palau may not be resolved, however. On October 8, the airline was sued by Palau National Airline, which claimed that FAT had failed to pay PNA a per-flight lease fee to which it had allegedly agreed in 1997. The lawsuit also claimed that FAT has been operating without a business license or a Foreign Investment permit and has not paid taxes to the Republic since it began flying there in 1998. Palau's Foreign Investment Board has opened an investigation into these charges.
—Rebecca Stanfeld
Compact Road Roadblocks
Palau’s largest capital improvement project, the 53-mile Compact Road under construction on the country’s biggest island of Babeldaob, has encountered yet another roadblock, this one with roots in the most contentious area of Palauan life and politics—land. (As Jeffrey Rasley reported last month in Pacific Magazine, land disputes are rife in this small island nation and overwhelm its judicial system.)
In anticipation of road construction, the Palauan government negotiated over 2,000 easements with private landowners in 1998. Palau’s Bureau of Lands and Surveys obtained permanent easements for property in the so-called footprint of the road (which includes the road itself and immediately surrounding areas). The Lands and Surveys department negotiated temporary easements with other landowners, giving contractors access to property adjacent to the footprint during the construction period.
Inexplicably, the bureau obtained temporary easements for only two years, despite the fact that the Compact’s scheduled completion date extended beyond that timeframe (and has slid further since). These easements have now expired, and roughly 20 have not been renewed, including several involving Vice President Sandra Pierantozzi, who filed suit against the project’s contractor, Daewoo, in September for damages inflicted on her land in Ngatpang State.
She says the national government obtained a temporary easement in 1998 from the wrong landowner, that she held the title to the land and the government never conducted a basic title search. In any event, crews showed up unannounced in 2002 (a good two years after the easement had expired) and bulldozed her property. She says that Daewoo is insinuating that she is threatening the completion of the road.
“How can this be when they’ve already gotten through the land?” asks Pierantozzi. She has ordered Daewoo crews off other land (in Ngaraard and Ngiwal), but has not as yet filed suit. The vice president says that people are lambasting her for “not giving up her land like everyone else along the road.
“But I was never asked for permission; I never gave my permission. All I am asking for is justice and fairness,” Pierantozzi said.
The vice president acknowledges that the publicity surrounding her case might threaten her chances in future elections, but she says she is outraged at what she considers is an injustice and a double standard. Pierantozzi said she feels like she is expected to capitulate because she is the vice president.
“I ran for vice president, my property didn’t,” she told Pacific Magazine.
When asked about the government's proposed solution (extending the permanent easements and doing away with the controversial and expired temporary easements altogether), she added, “I’d like to see them try.”
Palauan and U.S. officials worry about what will happen if these 20 landowners refuse to extend the temporary easements. One solution is to find other access areas, but this will cost time and money.
Attorneys for the Ministry of Resources and Development feel they have a more innovative idea: doing away with the need for temporary easements by broadly reinterpreting the language contained in permanent easements still in effect to ensure adequate access. Given Palauans’ litigious nature, though, it seems unlikely that this measure can be adopted without unleashing a flurry of lawsuits.
“In Palau, there is a cultural tradition of giving up something to the village—and now the government—no matter what,” explained Stalin Pedro, another landowner balking at renewing a temporary lease without an offer of meaningful compensation. “But this is a democracy now, and everyone has rights to their private property.”
—Rebecca Stanfeld
American Samoa
Faleomavaega beats back challenge
Incumbent congressional Delegate Faleomavaega Eni is heading back to the U.S. Congress for an 8th consecutive two year term, after edging out first-time challenger, Fagafaga Daniel Langkilde by only 876 votes during the Nov. 19th run-off election.
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Faleomavaega received 4,959 votes or 54.8 percent of the 9,042 votes counted, compared to Fagafaga’s 4,083 votes or 45.2 percent.
The run-off election was necessary because none of the three candidates—Faleomavaega, Fagafaga and Aumua Amata Coleman—during the Nov. 5th general election received the required 50 percent-plus-one vote.
This is the fourth time that Faleomavaega was forced into a run-off election.
Political observers said Fagafaga had strong holds in several polling stations, although he is a first-time challenger.
Asked about political observers’ opinions of his strong showing as a first-time challenger, Fagafaga said, “I think the people took note of my platform, which was clear about what I wanted to do for our people.” Fagafaga brought to voters, the idea of “putting American Samoa first,” and working together with local leaders—two issues over which Faleomavaega had been criticized in past years.
Fagafaga says, “I really want to spend a lot of time with my family.” Both he and Faleomavaega said that this year’s race was a tough one. Faleomavaega said he was not surprised with the close results of the election and had sensed it after the Nov. 5th general election.
“I was also not surprised there was a run-off election, I pretty much expected it,” he said.
—Fili Sagapolutele
Kiribati
Opposition Scores Tarawa Victory
Kiribati’s opposition candidates won strongly in the first round of voting in late November, led by opposition leader Dr. Harry Tong winning his seat in Tarawa in the first round by gaining the required vote of 50 percent. President Teburoro Tito was unable to gain 50 percent of the votes in the first round in the same constituency as Tong, forcing him into a second round runoff against three other candidates vying for two seats.
As Pacific Magazine went to press, opposition and government parties began jockeying to secure a majority to form the next government. The opposition continued to insist it can organize a majority, but it must still convince 16 new parliamentarians to join them. The new members, according to PINA Nius Online, hold the balance of power. Prime Minister Tito has the backing of seven MPs, while the opposition claims the support of 17 members of Parliament.
Kiribati’s first President, Ieremia Tabai, will return to Parliament after securing his seat in first round in his home island.
Eight incumbent MPs who were members of the Opposition Boutokaan Te Koaua party have already been re-elected after gaining the required 50 percent of votes in the first round, Kiribati NewStar reported.
Presidential candidates will be chosen when parliament convenes after the New Year and an election will follow.
This year’s national election has been hotly contested, with opposition and government MPs exchanging barbs over the government’s inability to get an ATR-72 aircraft into the service after bringing it to Kiribati in July, charges and denials of Chinese government involvement in the election, and controversy over police confiscation of opposition pamphlets.
—Giff Johnson
FSM
New Tuna HQ Heading To Pohnpei
“We won!” exclaimed the headline on a press release from the Federated States of Micronesia government in mid-November after Pohnpei got the nod to host a new regional tuna management headquarters. The FSM has cause to celebrate. The venue for the headquarters—in full, the Commission for the Management and Conservation of the Highly Migratory Fish Stock in the Central and Western Pacific—had been a political football, a subject of intense lobbying and several votes over two years.
When the new HQ is established, the FSM will be the first North Pacific nation to host a regional organization. The apparently final decision for Pohnpei was made in Manila, Philippines during the Third Preparatory Conference for the new tuna commission, held Nov. 18-22. Although Pohnpei had won over Papua New Guinea in a close vote among Forum Fisheries Countries more than a year ago, the issue remained unsettled, with PNG and Tonga campaigning heavily for the bid. Fiji, Samoa and the Philippines also submitted bids—but these were rejected when they were received after the submission deadline.
In Manila, PNG dropped out of the race after the second round of voting, leaving just Tonga and the FSM. It took the 25 participating nations—including the United States and Asian fishing nations—just two days and five more votes before the FSM received the required 75 percent needed in a 19-6 vote.
“The Tuna Commission will be the largest of its kind in the world, not only in terms of the area covered but also by the volume of fish being harvested in the area and by membership,” said a press release from the FSM government.
—Giff Johnson
