Pacific Ocean

Pacific Leaders Call To Preserve Ocean

They are concerned that failing to get this in order, activities could begin within the next 15 months, the group expressed this during the 7thOur Ocean Conference, held in Palau this week.

The PPADSM’s membership includes parliamentarians representing Aotearoa New Zealand, the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, Fiji, Maohi Nui (French Polynesia), Guam, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Samoa, Vanuatu, Tuvalu and Palau.

PIF members discuss Fukushima treated nuclear wastewater with Japan

The Government of Japan committed to ongoing dialogue with Forum Members as a priority follow up to the PALM9 Summit in July. This followed Japan’s announcement in April of plans to begin discharge in 2023, for a period of up to 40 years. The announcement drew strong global response, including from the Forum Chair and Leaders.

In his opening comments at the third briefing on Tuesday afternoon, Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum Henry Puna noted the issues require “open and frank consultation” along with sustained dialogue at the political and technical level.

Ocean cleaning machine to take on Pacific garbage

The floating boom system, established by the non-profit organisation Ocean Cleanup, has deployed from San Francisco.

It's undergoing several weeks of testing before beginning its task of trapping plastic in the Pacific Ocean later in the year.

Ocean Cleanup said the garbage patch between Hawai'i and California covered about 1.6 million square kilometres with trillions of pieces of trash.

The newspaper Hans India reported the system had 10 feet of netting that most fish can swim below, leaving the boom to collect mainly trash.

Pacific Ocean conditions leaning towards weak La Nina, NIWA

NIWA said sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern part of the ocean cooled substantially in October, while tradewinds in the west have been stronger than normal.

It said the tropical Pacific has consistent La Niña like signals in both the ocean and atmosphere.

However, if one does eventuate, it is likely to be weak and short-lived.

Plastic Ocean or Pacific Ocean?

This Pacific Conversation raises the issue of the impact of Marine Debris upon our waters providing you with more information to help make a difference in our region.
 

Did you know about a third of ship waste is just dumped at sea? That's like saying one of every three bags of rubbish is just tossed overboard. But throwing it 'away' doesn't make it go away, especially if it's plastic.

Facebook and Google are building a huge undersea cable to China

Both companies are blocked in mainland China. But they're plowing money into an 8,000-mile ultrafast link between Los Angeles and Hong Kong, a special Chinese territory where their services can be viewed and that serves as a key network hub for Asia.

La Nina watch issued as El Nino keeps fading in the Pacific

A La Nina watch was issued Thursday as the warming across the equatorial Pacific’s surface began to fade and cold water started building in its depths, the US Climate Prediction Center said. There is a 60 percent chance the La Nina could occur from July to September and a 70 percent chance there will be one in the winter.

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology issued a watch on Tuesday. 

Temporary ban on tuna fishing in the Pacific

The changes, it explained, are in line with the resolutions of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC), of which Mexico is a party.

This measure also applies to boats from the Mexican flagged purse seine fleet fishing for these species in the high seas and in foreign jurisdictional waters that are in the IATTC regulated area.

Climate change on talks agenda at Pacific Islands - India summit

With many of the island nations that dot the Pacific Ocean east of Australia, threatened by rising sea levels, climate change and sustainable development is a common concern.

The 14 nations are: Cook Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Nauru, Kiribati, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Samoa, Niue, Palau, Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Fiji and Papua New Guinea.

Climate change will be a high priority subject at the talks with the 14 nations, Anil Wadhwa, secretary (East) in the ministry of external affairs said at a briefing here.