NEWSPAGE 07 April
2010

(Photos: eventpolynesia.com)

(Photos: Animal Protection Society)

SAMOA: Inaugural Animal Balance Campaign
Source: Animal Protection Society Press Release

The Animal Protection Society recently completed their biggest ever desexing campaign, which was run in conjunction with a group of 18 overseas volunteers representing Animal Balance, a US-based Animal Welfare organisation.

The campaign ran from Wednesday 24th February through until Wednesday 10th March. Over this 2 week period, a total of 12 free clinics were conducted with a record 584 dogs and cats being desexed! To put this figure in perspective, this is about half the number of animals desexed by the APS vets over the entire previous 12 month period, despite continual growth of our year-round desexing program over recent years! In addition, on Wednesday 3rd March an incredible 71 animals were desexed at the Samoa Tourism Authority fale in just one day, setting a new record for both Animal Protection Society and Animal Balance!

Using knowledge of population growth, the APS has conservatively estimated that if left undesexed, the 178 female dogs that were speyed during the campaign would have contributed more than 4000 additional dogs to the Samoan dog population in just 6 years time! Such intensive desexing campaigns, where large numbers of animals can be sterilised in a short period of time, hold the key to a humane solution to the dog overpopulation problem that is rife in Samoa, and particularly the Apia town area. Animal Balance has proved this through successful projects in other island nations, such as the Galapagos Islands where dog populations have stabilised thanks to over 95% of the dog population being sterilised in just a few years of campaigning by Animal Balance. As part of this Sa-moan campaign the team of volunteers focused on working in identified problem areas, but it is hoped that in future campaigns, more rural clinics, including in Savai’i, will be possible.

Funding for this visit, which cost $10000USD to run, was met in half by a donation from the Samoa Tourism Authority and in half by Animal Balance fundraising efforts overseas. Animal Balance, who has signed an Memorandum of Understanding with Animal Protection Society and 5 Samoan government ministries (Samoa Tourism Authority, Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries, Ministry of Natural Resources & Environment, National Health Services, Ministry of Health and Samoa Police), intends to make this project an annual one, with the next visit already tentatively planned for mid 2011, dependent on funding. (Like the APS, Animal Balance is a non-profit non-government organisation.) Any local businesses or ministries who would like to become involved in this project in the future are most welcome and should contact the Animal Protection Society ([email protected]) for more information.

Apart from funding, this project took months to get off the ground and would not have been possible without the support of all the local Samoan government ministries, businesses and individuals who volunteered their expertise, time, services or money to help maximize the success of the project. Thanks to the following people for helping make this clinic a reality:

Becky Leavens

Dr Ben Leavens

Dr Byron Maas

Carla Naden

Dr Christy Herejk
Dr Elaine Luckic
Heather Angoco
Joanna Schmit
Dr Larry Richman
Liz Talkington
Ludvik Segio
Dr Margaret Lee
Milo Prochazka
Paulina de Vesco
Dr Ralph Broshes
Dr Stacia Boswell
Humane Society International $5,000 USD
Edith Goode Trust $5,000 USD
Samoa Tourism Authority $10000 WST
Aggie Grey’s Hotel
Ah Liki Wholesale
Apia Bottling Company
BOC Samoa
Chan Mow Company Ltd
Coral Reef Academy
Fiu Mataese & family
Italiano’s Pizza Bar
Keli’s House of Goodies
Konrad & Cecelia Keil
Myna’s Minimart
National Health Services
National Pacific Insurance
Princess Tui Inn
Radio 2AP
Samoan Ministry of Agriculture
Samoan Ministry of Natural Resources & Environment
Samoan Ministry of Revenue (Customs Department)
Samoan Ministry of Women, Community & Social Development
Samoa Observer
TV1

TV3

Village of Faleasiu
Village of Fugalei
Village of Matatufu
Village of Moataa
Village of Siumu
Village of Siuniu
Village of Vailele
Al Garcia
Bill & Kathy (Peace Corps Volunteers Siumu)
Cassandra Vezens
Christina Jager
Erica Wales
Holly Krause
Jenny Aboozaid
Joan Toa
Kaelin O'Connell
Karina (Peace Corps Volunteer Matatufu)
Kasey Beckner
Katie Thomson
Leon Fruean
Margaret Bonner
Marion Williamson
Matt Leal
Mele Mauala
Owen Thomson and ANZ Bank volunteers
Rachel Harris
Saxon Thomson
Tasalaotele Sapolu
Wendy Krause
Students of Coral Reef Academy

Fa’afetai tele lava everyone!

Photo Captions:

Photo 1 - Dr Larry Richman, the most experienced Animal Balance volun-teer, operates as Dr Ben Leavens and Joanna Schmit look on.

Photo 2 - Local volunteer Mele Mauala holds a puppy a the Samoa Tourism Authority fales, the site of the busiest day of the campaign!.

Photo 3 - All targets were exceeded: at the clinic in Matatufu where only 3 vets desexed more than 40 animals; and over the entire cam-paign, where 584 animals were desexed, smashing the target of 500!.

Photo 4 - Animal Balance Director, Emma Clifford (front row, 6th from left), pictured with the volunteer team at their field site near the Tapua Tamasese Meaole Hospital in Motootua.
 

(Photos: J. Kneubuhl)

AMERICAN SAMOA: ASCC students donate Samoan instruments to Arizona Museum
Source: American Samoa Community College Press Release

When the Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) in Phoenix, Arizona opens to the public in April, its collection from around the world will include a number of traditional Samoan pieces courtesy of students from the American Samoa Community College (ASCC). Most MIM visitors will see for the first time Samoan musical instruments such as the Pātē `Ofe (bamboo slit drums), Fala (mat drum), and the Pu Foafoa (conch shell trumpet), all either constructed by students or collected from generous community members as part of an ASCC Service Learning project.

“Through networking, I could offer my class the opportunity to create a project that would not only benefit the museum, but also align with the ASCC mission statement,” said Music instructor Kuki Tuiasosopo of the College’s Fine Arts Department, who spearheaded the project. As a graduate in Ethnomusicology from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Tuiasosopo learned through his former professor Dr. Jane Moulin of a call for donations of indigenous musical instruments by the MIM, which will include an Oceania Musical Instrument Exhibition as part of its grand opening in April. He then offered students in his class MUS 296 - Samoan Music Workshop, the Service Learning option of either learning how to make traditional musical instruments themselves or locating knowledgeable sources in the community willing to donate instruments.

“We managed to collect six musical instruments altogether,” explained Tuiasosopo. “Students Fou Taimalie and Jackson Moa constructed two bamboo slit drums themselves. The Tavai family in Lepuapua and the Tuasivia family each donated one wooden slit-drum. The Fautua family contributed the mat drum, and Mr. Lavalava provided the conch shell trumpet. Our students went out to the field as collectors to seek donors and ask for instruments. One student worked on mallets (`autā), while the other students assisted with packing the instruments properly for air freight to Phoenix, which the MIM fully funded. Students also did research on the origin and history of the instruments, while still others worked on audio and visual recordings of them.”

Tuiasosopo stressed the academic and cultural aspects of the project. “One of our Student Learning Outcomes goals is for each student to demonstrate responsibility in being an active and contributing citizen of American Samoa, the Pacific Region, and the world”, he explained. “So we can share our culture while learning about it as Service Learning in the truest sense. Once the students understand the significance of Samoan music and instruments to our culture, they can pass on this knowledge to their peers and the younger generations as they become teachers themselves, or active young adult leaders in villages and church youth groups.”

Upon receiving the instruments, the MIM expressed its enthusiastic appreciation.
“These instruments represent a continuation of active practices in the arts, as well as expanding knowledge of local music and musical instruments for the students and their community,” said Jennifer C. Post, MIM Associate Curator of Musical Instruments. “By recording and passing on their valued traditions to generations, they’ve done something that not many college students have an opportunity to do. Their contributions to the Museum project will last for many, many years beyond their graduation.”

According to the institution’s mission statement, “The Musical Instrument Museum will celebrate the similarities and differences of the world’s cultures as expressed through music, which is common to us all. With musical instruments from every country in the world, the MIM will pay homage to the history and diversity of instruments and introduce museum guests to their varied and unique sounds. The MIM will be an engaging, entertaining and informative experience, in which the uninitiated and the knowledgeable, the young and the old will feel welcome.” For more information on the MIM, visit www.themim.org.

Photo Captions:  ASCC Music instructor Kuki Tuiasosopo and his students display some of the traditional Samoan musical instruments they recently donated to the Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) in Arizona. The museum, which will have its grand opening in April, will feature instruments from across the globe.
 

FIJI: Fiji bids to host FIBA Oceania Basketball Championships
Source: Fiji Times

Basketball Fiji (BF) will bid to host the 2012 FIBA Oceania Basketball Championships.

"Basketball Fiji and our associations feel the time is right to host an international FIBA Oceania Tournament in the country in 2011 or 2012," said BF development officer Lai Puamau.

We feel we are ready and we have proven in the past year that we have the basketball expertise and support in the country to host such an event.

"I believe with the current executive team and support from the respective associations we will be able to work together under one umbrella and this is the reason why I think we can achieve something of this magnitude.

"It is the reason basketball is moving forward in the country today, because it is a collective group working together and driving basketball forward rather than an individual."

FIBA Oceania reps, Steve Smith and Regan Kama were very impressed with the amount of development and work done by Basketball Fiji and their respective associations over a one year period, said Puamau.

"The unity and respect that the associations and Basketball Fiji had with one another was something that impressed them.

"Although this is still the first phase for development there is still more work that can be done to improve the sport in the country.

"As the level of competition goes up and the number of participants rises we will need to increase the base numbers of bench officials, coaches and referees," said Puamau.

"This can only be achieved through countless workshops and we are working closely with FIBA Oceania to have their zone development officer come down to Fiji in October to tackle some of these issues."

The host will be announced at the end of the FIBA Oceania Youth U20 Tournament in October.

in New Caledonia which our under-20 team will be competing in.
 

(Photo: South Pacific Tourism Organisation)

TUVALU: Tuvalu turns obstacle into opportunity
Source: Islands Business

Riding on the wave of international publicity as an ‘icon of global warming’, Tuvalu is looking to develop a niche eco-tourism industry, says the country’s Tourism Officer Fakasoa Tealei.
But there’s a need to balance tourism development with environmental sustainability, he told ISLANDS BUSINESS.

“We have to be conscious of how we develop because we don’t want mass development for mass tourism. Tuvalu should be looking into a more sustainable development where we can maintain the resources we have for future generations.”

With this message in mind, the tiny Polynesian nation of just 11,000 hosted its inaugural King Tides Festival in late February in the country’s capital, Funafuti.

The unusually high tides, which visit between February and March each year, are believed to have worsened with rising sea levels attributed to climate change, causing extensive flooding and widespread devastation on the low-lying atolls since 2006.

The festival’s aims were to raise awareness of the effects of climate change on Tuvalu and attract environmentally conscious travellers to visit the ‘icon of global warming’.

Although no tourists attended this year’s festival, media crews from Fiji, New Zealand and France, as well as representatives from the United Nations and Greenpeace, covered the five-day event.
The festival put Tuvalu’s unique cultural identity on display through traditional food, craft, song and dance while an environmental awareness programme targeted the island’s young.

Tealei hopes the publicity gained will encourage green travellers to visit Tuvalu in years to come. But he admits that tourism is still in its early stages.

“It will take 10 years at least. Right now, it is still in its embryonic stage.”

Challenges: There are several challenges facing the development of Tuvalu’s tourism industry including a lack of infrastructure, costly flights and limited natural resources.

Accommodation on the main island of Funafuti is limited to one hotel and a handful of guesthouses.

The government-run Hotel Vaiakulagi in the town centre is a 16-room property while the owner-operated lodges spread out on Funafuti can only accommodate a few guests at a time.
There is also a disparity between the rates charged (Tuvalu uses Australian currency) and the standard of accommodation on offer.

Tealei readily admits there’s a need for benchmarking in order to get the island’s accommodation providers up to Australasian standards.

“I’m not only looking at the standard of the accommodation itself, I’m also looking at the advantage of the people. Once those places are up to Australian and New Zealand standards, the employees of those accommodation sectors are also qualified to work.”

Food is another factor that will need to be considered in the long-term development of tourism.
On Funafuti, the traditional Tuvaluan diet of fresh seafood and island root crops such as pulaka has, by and large, been replaced with carb-heavy meals packed with fatty, processed meats.
For the most part, this is what’s on offer to travellers as well.

Fruit and vegetables are near impossible to grow due to saltwater intrusion, although a Taiwanese-funded project that’s teaching Tuvaluans to start home gardens is finding some success.

There’s also talk of trade between Rotuma and Tuvalu opening up towards mid-year so that could mean a more consistent supply of greens.

Another obstacle for Tuvalu’s tourism department to overcome is the prohibitive cost of air travel.

Currently only one airline, Air Pacific’s domestic and regional subsidiary Pacific Sun, offers twice weekly services to Funafuti.

Due to the size of the runway (with an extension seeming highly unlikely) only smaller aircraft like the ATR42-500, with a maximum of 44 passengers, can land.

Tuvalu never really capitalised on its position as a key stakeholder in the now defunct Air Fiji (which for a long time ran an exclusive service between Nausori and Funafuti) to develop its tourism industry. The high cost of air travel, even then, did little to attract travellers.

With any increase in the frequency of flights contingent on available beds, Tealei is looking at cruise ship and yacht tourism to bring in the numbers.

The last cruise ship to visit Tuvalu was in 1996. But it hopes to have Asuka 2 with 960 passengers and 560 crew to grace its shores next year.

“The good thing about cruise ships is you don’t need accommodation—they just stay on the ship and then come ashore,” says Tealei.

That should help the tourism department meet its target of 2000 tourists by 2012.

Visitor arrival figures obtained from Tuvalu’s statistics department show tourism numbers increasing steadily over the past decade.

Of the 1313 visitors that arrived in 2002, 168 marked tourism purposes as the reason for their visit.

By contrast, that figure had more than doubled to 397 from a total of 1580 arrivals in 2009.

Overall, 1969 visitor arrivals for tourism purposes were recorded for the period 2002 to 2009, of which 655 were Japanese, followed by 134 Australians and 127 New Zealanders.

With Australia and New Zealand being closer, how did Japan come out front?

The answer may lie with Shuichi Endo, a Japanese salaryman-turned-activist who has done much to raise the plight of ordinary Tuvaluans in his homeland.

Tokyo-based Endo runs Tuvalu Overview, a not-for-profit organisation that raises awareness of the situation in Tuvalu through photo exhibitions and roaming lectures.

But that’s only part of his agenda. When he’s not spreading the word in his native Japan, Endo can be found planting mangroves in Tuvalu as part of a coastal reforestation project aimed at addressing the changes brought on by global warming.

The Japanese travellers who come to Tuvalu are aware of the environmental issues facing the island nation, he said.

Photo Caption: Tourism Officer Fakasoa Tealei.
 

(Photos: Chaucer Partnership)

WOLDWIDE: The Pacific's challenge
Source: Chaucer Partnership Press Release

Move your paddle silently through the water. Our oceans are in trouble and urgent action is required.

For the first time ever four traditional vaka will assemble in the Waitemata Harbour to make a stand for the Pacific Ocean.

On Sunday April 11th four vaka will sail in Te Kumete O Te Moana Nui, a regatta in the Waitemata Harbour (Auckland, New Zealand) and then leave Auckland on Wednesday April 14th for a Pacific Ocean Voyage to French Polynesia, Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga and Fiji. In 2011 seven vaka will unite in Auckland to undertake a longer pan-Pacific voyage to Hawaii via French Polynesia.

A fleet of vaka has not set sail across the Pacific for more than 1,000 years. The vaka, all built in Auckland, successfully blend traditional Pacific craftsmanship with modern boatbuilding techniques. This melding of the modern and traditional is a metaphor for of how we should treat our environment - linking the past with the future and reconnecting the Pacific peoples utilising the best of every culture and generation. It’s time to make a change.

The events’ aim is therefore to raise awareness of the environmental issues that face the Pacific Ocean, as well as recapture traditional Pacific voyaging skills and re-establish cultural links between the countries that share the Pacific.

* The vaka make up an informal network of voyaging societies, (The Pacific Voyager’s Network), involving New Zealand, Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Tonga, Vanuatu and Western Samoa.

* The network is supported by Okeanos, a German-based philanthropic organisation formed with the objective of protecting the world’s oceans and marine life.

* The four vaka taking part in Sunday’s regatta and the 2010 ocean voyage are: Te Matua a Maui (New Zealand crew), Hine Moana (Western Samoa, Vanuatu, Tongan crew), Uto Ni Yalo (Fijian crew) and Maramaru Atua (Cook Islands crew). Once in Tahiti a full Tahitian crew on Faafaite will join the fleet. Two further vaka (making a total of seven) have also been built and will take part in the 2011 voyage.


Programme for Te Kumete O Te Moana Nui Regatta on Sunday 11th April:

Move your paddle, silently through the water.

* The event will start with an opening ceremony at Bayswater Marina, Auckland, at 8am on Sunday and the four-vaka regatta will start in the vicinity of the Auckland Harbour Bridge at 10am.

* The four vaka will sail to Motuihe Island and back to the start line, returning about 4pm. A closing kava ceremony will follow. At the closing ceremony the bowl (te kumete) will be passed to a new guardian for safe keeping until the next regatta. That guardian will carry the bowl to their home when they sail in the 2010 Pacific Voyage.

* “Kumete” means large bowl, “Te Moana Nui” means the great ocean (i.e. the Pacific Ocean). The full meaning is ‘The bowl of the Pacific’.

* All seven vaka were built at Salthouse Boatbuilders, Greenhithe, Auckland. The double-hulled vessels (22m in length) are constructed from e-glass and foam. Traditional boat building techniques are still visible; the hulls lashed together using wooden beams and rope lashings. Authenticity is maintained with the vaka adorned with customary carving, colouring and insignias of each nation. Traditional flax sails and modern sails are used and two of the vaka include a solar power system for auxiliary propulsion.


The 2010 Pacific Ocean Voyage leaving Auckland, April 14th:

Connecting our islands, saving our ocean.

On April 14th four vaka (with a fifth vaka joining in Tahiti) will depart from Auckland and sail to French Polynesia, Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga and Fiji.

* The aims of the voyage are to re-establish cultural links through traditional voyaging and to raise awareness of the key environmental issues threatening the Pacific Ocean - including ocean noise, pollution, habitat destruction, overfishing, acidification and de-oxidation and climate change.

* At each island a vaka will stay behind to continue training crew to use the vaka for cultural and educational purposes (encompassing enterprise, kinship, navigation and ocean conservation). At the same time highlighting how we can interact with the oceans in a quiet, healthy and sustainable way.

* The crews will rediscover traditional sailing and navigational knowledge, skills and customs, which will set the platform for future generations and help to revive and sustain a very important part of Pacific culture.

* The Te Kumete O Te Moana Nui Regatta and the two Pacific voyages have the backing of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which has initiated the Pacific Ocean 2020 Challenge. The IUCN brings together 181 countries in a global partnership to help societies to ensure the use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable. The target of the Challenge is to achieve a healthy, sustainable and productive Pacific Ocean by the year 2020.



Contacts for comment:

Okeanos/Vaka Skipper
Magnus Danbolt - Skipper of Te Matau a Maui (NZ) - [email protected] - +64 21 129 8176

Pacific Voyaging
Hoturoa Barclay-Kerr - University of Te Wānanga o Aotearoa - [email protected] - +64 272 430 261

Environment/Pacific Ocean Challenge 2020
Taholo Kami - Regional Director IUCN Oceania - [email protected] - + 679 3319084 (Fiji)



The Pacific Ocean - background information:

* The Pacific Ocean covers 165.2 million square kms, an area larger than the earth’s land area.

* Comprising half the world’s ocean area and one-third of the earth’s surface, the Pacific Ocean is the largest single geographic feature on our planet.

* It is the engine room of the earth’s climate, playing an irreplaceable role in the planet’s carbon and water cycles.

* This vast region supports enormous biological diversity and hosts complex ecosystems and ocean-based economies that produce a wealth of resources for more than three billion people in its 56 Pacific Island and Pacific Rim countries and territories and global (through trade links) consumption, yet it is not being sustainably managed.

* The best scientific research indicates that the health of the Pacific Ocean will decline dramatically due to key threats including pollution, ocean noise, habitat destruction, overfishing, acidification and de-oxidation and climate change.


Vaka information:

Type: Traditional Sailing Canoe (vaka moana/waka hourua)
Length: 22 metres
Width: 6.5 metres
Draft: 1.9 metres (maximum)
Weight: 13 ton
Sail Area: 96 square metres (maximum)
Sleeps: 16
Hulls: E-Glass & Foam
Superstructure: Wood
Steering System: Paddle
Auxiliary Engines: Solar - 2 x 10 kilowatts
Average Speed: 7 knots.