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SEPTEMBER 3, 2010
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| RMI grabs global attention with climate change pitch The Marshall Islands is fast tracking action on climate change and one of its initiatives received a write up in a New York Times editorial this week. One of RMI United Nations Ambassador Phillip Muller’s recent actions was to contact Columbia Law School’s Center for Climate Change Director Michael Gerrard seeking answers to legal questions such as what happens if an island nation is swamped by rising ocean waters, is it still a country? The Columbia Law School Center responded by agreeing to sponsor an international legal conference scheduled for May 2011 in New York City to answer questions about relocation, continued sovereignty, legal protections and limiting the damage that relate to climate change and sea level rise. Kendall calls for better review of candidates for key roles Vice Speaker Alik Alik formally nominated Ministry of Finance Assistant Secretary Junior Patrick to be the RMI’s next Auditor General by introducing Resolution 72 into Nitijela this week. Appointment of the Auditor General is for life, to 72 years of age. Patrick holds a bachelor’s degree in business from the Manukau Institute of Technology in Auckland, New Zealand and has worked at Finance since 2005, according to the resolution. Majuro Senator Wilfred Kendall on Wednesday questioned the process for approving the Auditor General and Traditional Rights Court positions, saying the Nitijela should have more of a role in reviewing the nominees for these positions, including public hearings so the senators can ask questions of those nominated. Teams fly in for All Mike tourney A big weekend of fishing is coming up September 4 and 5, with the Budweiser 18th All Micronesia Fishing Tournament bringing in fishermen from the US, Japan, Australia and islands in Micronesia to compete against the best fishermen in the RMI. Alex Tretnoff from Pohnpei, who will be fishing this weekend, holds the All Micronesia record for catching a 794-pound marlin in 2008. MBC President’s Cup winner Wally Milne and Atjang Paul Trophy holder Ladie Jack will represent Majuro in the tournament. This year’s Miss All Mike is Kalisy ‘Janini’ Lanki Calep. |
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| James: 'If Tahiti can do it, why not us? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (Continued from above) viable. The harvest this week from Rongelap Atoll of 1,300 pearls valued at about $20,000 is small compared to the multi-million dollar export industries in French Polynesia and the Cook Islands. But black lip pearl oyster expert Tyrone Tapu, who manages his own pearl farm on Apataki Atoll in French Polynesia, said he was impressed with the small harvest at Rongelap. “When I did the grafting of the oysters a year and a half ago at Rongelap, there were not so many oysters and not much choice for colors,” he said in Majuro. “Looking at the (range of) colors from the harvest, they are surprisingly good. These have the same colors as at my farm.” Tapu has assisted with seeding and grafting pearl oysters in the Marshall Islands for years and says the lagoons in this north Pacific nation are excellent for growing pearls. “If Tahiti can do it, why not us?” said Rongelap Mayor James Matayoshi, who has overseen the three-year project of growing the oysters in the remote atoll that was doused with radioactive fallout from the 1954 Bravo hydrogen bomb test at Bikini. Matayoshi launched the pearl growing project to develop job opportunities for Rongelap islanders as part of a long-term plan to rehabilitate the atoll and return the population that evacuated the area in 1985. “I’m very excited by this harvest,” said Mattlan Zackhras, the Minister of Resources and Development who represents Namdrik Atoll, location of one of the first, but now dysfunctional, pearl farms in the Marshall Islands. “It is a pilot project for local governments trying to revive the |
industry,” he said. “It shows it can be done.” The problem for expanding the local pearl oyster farms is lack of “spat,” the baby oysters. Zackhras said the College of the Marshall Islands, which has been assisting Rongelap and other islands to develop pearl farms, has the ability to produce spat. The Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority also has now not-functioning hatchery equipment. “CMI is bringing in a new extension agent to focus on aquaculture,” Zackhras said, adding this is expected to give a boost to outer islands pearl farming. “We (Namdrik) are pigging backing on Rongelap to see if we can help each other,” said Zackhras. Local business Robert Reimers Enterprises ran initially successful pearl farms in two remote atolls during the late 1990s and early 2000s before calling it quits several years ago in the face of high operations costs. Matayoshi said his local government is investing in expansion and pursuing grants to build infrastructure, including a hatchery, to expand farming operations. To be economically viable, the farm needs to be producing 50,000 pearls each harvest. “It’s a lot of work, but we have trained our staff at Rongelap — the knowledge is there,” Matayoshi said. Matayoshi is keen to involve local college students in what he calls “value adding” for the pearls. “I want to have the students make jewelry with these pearls,” he said. “It’s another way to create jobs for crafters.” Tapu said the oysters at Rongelap will produce three-to-four pearls each. “There will be another harvest in 2011 with the 1,000 oysters still growing at Rongelap,” he said. |
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| GIFF JOHNSON Although rumors have swirled for days on Ebeye, Kwajalein and Majuro about an imminent “massive” layoff at the missile testing range, a US official told the Journal Wednesday the actual number will be 79 jobs cut. US Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Eric Watnik in a telephone interview from Kwajalein Wednesday said 28 Marshallese and 51 Americans will lose their jobs effective this month at the US Army Kwajalein Atoll (USAKA). “The numbers going around are much larger than the reality,” Watnik said. “USAKA worked hard to bring the number (of job losses) down.” Kwajalein Range Services President Dave Norwood told the Journal he was faced with accommodating a 20 percent budget cut for fiscal year 2011, that starts October 1. Originally, he said, this amounted to the need to cut 250 KRS positions. But the reduction in cost was accomplished by cancelling 150 vacant positions, reducing some departments’ weekly working hours, and laying off 79 workers total. The 79 jobs that are being cut amount to about four-and-a-half percent of the existing American and Marshallese workforce, which now number about 800 and 950, respectively. The cuts will reduce the Marshallese workforce to about 775 and the American workforce to about 900. Watnik and USAKA officials said rumors of “massive” layoffs are not correct. Joe Moscone, Deputy to the USAKA |
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Ebeye,” RMI Liaison Officer to Kwajalein Jelton Anjain told Major Christopher Mills, head of USAKA’s Host Nations Office, in an email at the weekend as rumors made the rounds. As recently as Saturday, Mills told RMI Assistant Secretary of Finance Bruce Bilimon that he was unable to give him a definite answer regarding job cuts, “as the current budget review is not yet finished.” Bilimon had asked Mills for information, pointing out that if major cuts were planned, “then we will need to make adjustments to our tax revenues out of USAKA for the upcoming fiscal year (budget).” Mills told Bilimon at the weekend, “Though we are expecting less funding this year, we are still calculating the impacts to this command.” The RMI Ministry of Finance receives a five percent tax from the salaries of all American workers at Kwajalein, as well as income taxes on Marshallese workers at Kwajalein, so any cutbacks at the Army base have a negative impact on the General Fund budget. In addition, Marshallese contribute to the Marshall Islands Social Security Administration fund so reductions in force affect the retirement fund, which is already stressed because benefit payments are higher than its income. Watnik said the reduction in force at USAKA was part of a worldwide cutback in line with Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ decision to slash the Defense budget by $100 billion over the next three years. “Every defense facility is affected,” he said. |
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| Commander, told the Journal Wednesday that notification to the RMI government would be issued shortly. Moscone said that soon after new Commander Col. Joseph Gaines arrived in July, the command began addressing the FY2011 budget situation. “The cuts being discussed were so significant, we felt the need to go through a process to mitigate them,” Moscone said. “Though (the cuts are) still significant, they are not anywhere near where we thought we’d be when we started in July.” Moscone said USAKA and KRS officials looked at “every single line item in the budget — everything was on the table” — to hold job losses to the absolute minimum. “This lay off thing is creating a panic on |
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| RMI-Japan talks on hold Negotiations between Japan and the Marshall Islands for a new fisheries access agreement broke down recently and are not expected to resume until after the New Year. The breakdown resulted in large part because Japan negotiators did not respond positively to demands from the Marshall Islands for a greater share of the tuna “pie.” In negotiations with Japan, the RMI is pushing for development of its domestic fishing industry as part of the new “Parties to the Nauru Agreement” (PNA) program of bringing greater benefits of fishing to its island members. Despite the break off of negotiations, Japanese purse seine fishing boats are still able to fish in RMI waters because of a temporary agreement. Ading, Silk at JEMFAC talks The annual Joint Economic Management and Financial Accountability Committee (JEMFAC) is meeting this week in Honolulu to review and approve US Compact funding for the Marshall Islands for the upcoming fiscal year. Finance Minister Jack Ading and Foreign Minister John Silk are representing the RMI at the meeting that will see high-level representation from the US Departments of Interior, State and Health and Human Services. A Compact Trust Fund Committee meeting will also happen this week, with Ading and former Compact negotiator Bobby Muller representing the RMI in the talks that will review the status of the trust fund. |
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