Micronesian fishing boat sinks off Majuro

Twenty-two fishermen and one fisheries observer narrowly escaped with only the clothes they were wearing when a purse seine vessel sank off the coast of the Marshall Islands capital of Majuro Atoll Friday morning.

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Napier fishing fleet giant off to Kiribati

The biggest trawler fishing out of Napier for most of the last two decades has been sold to a partnership between the government of Kiribati and Auckland business interests. The sale was confirmed to Hawke’s Bay Today

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Marianas octopus lures, oldest in the Pacific, study shows

An archaeological study has determined that cowrie-shell artifacts found throughout the Mariana Islands were lures used for hunting octopuses and that the devices, similar versions of which have been found on islands

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Niue concerned over grounded Taiwanese ship 

The Niue government is remaining tight lipped over the Taiwanese fishing vessel that ran aground on a Niue reef last week. Radio New Zealand has spoken about the incident with a government official who would like remain

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‘Quad’ security group to track Indo-Pacific illegal fishing

The U.S, Japan, Australia and India will on Tuesday unveil a maritime initiative aimed at curbing illegal fishing in the Indo-Pacific, a U.S official said, in the latest effort by the “Quad” to counter Chinese

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Probe into Pacific Maritime Industrial Zone project financing

Papua New Guinea Treasurer Ian Ling-Stuckey has announced a new study aimed at resuming work on the long-delayed Pacific Maritime Industrial Zone project in Madang. PMIZ has been a white elephant sitting on the fringes

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Opinion: Chinese overfishing in the South Pacific devastates some Islands’ livelihoods

Chinese fishing boats’ illegal overfishing in the South Pacific has been devastating some island economies. According to two former U.S. officials, “illegal, unregulated fishing by Chinese vessels has become common

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Brawn but no brains?

A couple of years ago, a Fijian who had been engaged as deck crew on a tuna longliner was ‘offloaded’ in Hong Kong; he knew no-one there and had little money. Why was that action taken? Was he lazy, or ate ‘too

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Chinese seaman missing in Fiji waters

by Anish Chand A Chinese national is presumed dead after he reportedly fell over-board a fishing vessel in Fiji waters three weeks ago. And Fijian authorities have been made aware of the incident which is believed to

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Bad Boy

Vietnam earns villain status By NETANI RIKA, Pasay City, the Philippines DESPITE its promise to address the issue of illegal fishing in the Pacific, Vietnam has found itself out in the cold at the Western and Central

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Closing the fisheries loop holes

Authorities battle with e-monitoring By NETANI RIKA, Pasay City, the Philippines WHEN the Pacific met its international partners at the 12th Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission in Bali, Indonesia in

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Hard decisions now

Fiji sets sights on distant water fishing nations By Netani Rika in Manila.   PACIFIC tuna is under threat from the world’s largest fishing nations including China, Japan and South Korea. And the inaction of the

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Blue boats unacceptable – New Caledonia

French navy intercepts Vietnamese  fishermen By Netani Rika in Manila.     THE French Navy has intercepted two Vietnamese blue boats fishing illegally in New Caledonian waters. This is the second

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Struggle on the high seas

Small nations suffer huge burden By Netani Rika in Manila.     KIRIBATI already faces the huge burden of rising sea levels which threatens its very existence. With little land resources on which to grow food,

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