Pacific

Director blong Fisheries Development long FFA, Mike Batty i toktok long wanem ol i kolim ol "Blue Boats" blong sampela kantri long Asia we i save go stilim ol samting olsem sea cucumber, klam shell, lobster na fish long rif.

Mr Batty i tok em i had long FFA long painim ol dispela kaim boat long wanem ol ino gat ol satelite tracking sistim long ol olsem ol bikpela tuna boat.

So em i tok em bai gut long ol pipol long peles long ripotim ol blue baot ia long ol fishery ofisa oa polis sapos ol i lukim ol.

The Antara news agency was reporting comments by the country's foreign minister Retno Marsudi on Thursday.

Ms Marsudi said Indonesia always discussed Palestine's independence in its bilateral talks with Pacific island countries and with those yet to recognise Palestine as a state.

Vanuatu recognised Palestine in 1989 soon after its Declaration of Independence in 1988.

Papua New Guinea followed in 1995.

The two countries are the only Pacific island countries listed among 137 states at the UN which recognise the State of Palestine.

Donald Trump hem no biliv long Climate Change wea olketa gavman and pipol long Pacific Islands i wari tumas long hem.

Mr Trump hem talem aot finis hem bae aotim Amerika long disfala Paris Agriment long saet long Climate Change wea former President Barack Obama hem lid long kamapum an evri kantri long wol i agri finis long hem.

Dr Tarcisius Kabutaulaka hu hemi lecturer long University blong Hawaii hem se diswan bae hem spoelem nao waka blong olketa aelan kantri long Pacific wea olketa gohet fo safa finis long Climate Change.

The United States Geological Survey downgraded the quake from an initial measurement of magnitude 8. It struck some 47km west of Arawa on the north coast of Bougainville Island at a depth of 154km, the USGS reported.

An initial tsunami alert for several Pacific islands was wound back to cover just PNG and the neighbouring Solomon Islands and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center later said the tsunami threat had passed safely for those countries.

The Pacific tsunami warning centre said a widespread tsunami was possible for a number of Pacific nations, although not as far as New Zealand or Australia.

It said hazardous tsunami waves from the quake were possible within the next three hours along some coasts of Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Nauru, Vanuatu, and Indonesia as well as Chuuk, Pohnpei and Kosrae in the Federated States of Micronesia.

The centre say any waves would be between 0.3m and 1m above tide level for the Solomons and Papua New Guinea, and less than 0.3m above normal tide levels elsewhere.

The meeting is one of several precursors to Japan's eighth Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting or PALM to be held in 2018.

Japan has been holding the summit every three years since 1997.

16 countries are expected to attend the meeting which will review progress since the last summit and prepare for the next one.

Speaking on behalf of the Pacific Islands Forum chair the Federated States of Micronesia's foreign secretary, Lorin Robert, said he was looking forward to discussing the Pacific's relations with Japan in the areas of climate change and ocean management.

Nafanua, Leilani and Emma are 14, 12 and 10-years-old respectively, and their dad Xavier Lui is teaching them the traditional skills of Pacific sea voyaging.

Emma says she likes seeing turtles, riding the bow of the va'a ("boat" in Samoan), and feeling connected to her culture.

"It uncovers the history and you can make your own history while you sail, go on that big boat and make your own," she says, gesturing to the Samoan Voyaging Society's double-hulled canoe, the Gaualofa.

PINA said this is a ‘valuable and vital source of information’ to peoples and communities in the Pacific that have relied on Radio Australia for almost eight decades. 

More so now with most Pacific Island Countries in the middle of their cyclone season, said PINA President Moses Stevens, who laments the impact of the service will have on the peoples in the Pacific who rely on the service after it is closed in January. 

International Maritime Organisation’s Head for Air Pollution and Energy, Edmund Hughes, says the most cost effective and energy efficient mode of mass cargo transport, shipping makes a vital contribution to international commerce and is a key pillar for the development of a sustainable global economy.

Hughes also stated that mandatory energy efficiency requirements for international shipping have been in force for nearly four years, leading to over 1900 ocean going ships being certified to the new requirements.

The move to strengthen tracking of Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported fishing vessels with another layer of information listing vessel masters, is hoping to gain traction amongst Tuna Commission members. 

 "At the moment we blacklist boats that have been caught illegally fishing, but as we all know, it is the people on board that are actually doing the wrong thing.  The Persons of Interest (POI) watch list will help detect vessel masters slipping through the current IUU vessel blacklist and going on to lead rogue fishing from another vessel", says FFA DG James Movick.