Guam researchers warn against threat of spear-fishing

Good article in the Marianas Variety this morning on scuba-spearfishing. Nice work Janela Buhain!

"Data which has tracked fishing patterns on Guam since 1985 attributes 85 percent of the recorded atuhong and tanguisson catch to fishermen using scuba."

To read the article, click here: Guam researchers warn against threat of spear-fishing

Opening our waters to commercial longliners

According to the Marianas Variety, a WESPAC supported commercial fishing venture is coming to the Marianas:

An investor is already inquiring about long line fishing in the CNMI, he said.

Last year, the Northern Marianas Fisheries Inc., expressed interest in a commercial fisheries project on Rota and Saipan.

The firm which also plans to work closely with the local fishermen’s cooperative, will bring two federally approved fishing vessels to the CNMI.

The local marine conservation plan recently approved by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will pave the way for the development of a CNMI fishing industry, which will include the Northern Islands’ remote fishing station project, Dela Cruz said.

This venture follows in the footsteps of Crystal Seas, the bankrupt commercial longliner that just failed on Rota.

Please Support the Monument--Vote in Poll

Please support the proposed Marianas Trench Marine National Monument: vote in the current on-line poll at The Marianas Variety . Just scroll down a bit--it's on the right-hand side.

Thanks.

Alternative Proposal

The monument opposition has finally put forth a proposal of their own.

Marianas Variety
Monday, 27 October 2008

THE current local issue regarding the proposal to establish a National Marine Monument has created much public discussion and debate.

Some of the assertive statements I have heard are actually informative, at times even entertaining, and some unfortunately tend to manipulate the fact with, at the very least, high speculative benefits and hyperbole. It is funny when you hear people try to expound on something they have only heard rather on something they have thoroughly researched and analyzed. It is like the naturally blind leading the legally blind.

Both sides of the issue received much attention, at times with passion infrequently seen on these islands. It seems, for the most part, that every time someone speaks out in support of the monument, someone else puts forth an equally convincing argument against it.

The fact that proponents of the monuments felt a sudden need to rush a monumental decision that would affect generations to come, collaboratively with President George W. Bush last few days in office, arouses suspicions among many of our good people, and for good reasons. (Do the proponents make you feel like a lifter in urgent need of clemency before Bush leaves the White House?) The decision to establish a national marine monument is not urgently needed now. Moreover, there is still a lot of information needed to make not just a national decision for the sake of Socratic reasoning, but for our own sake, and for the sake of the future of our children and their children yet to be born. Maybe this is something that we should take a long hard look, continue to study with passion, and allow our kids to participate in frequent debates before we put it out for vote.

Look at the “Covenant.” Many of our people now felt that we have given up a lot to be a non-voting American. We have given up our independence for financial benefits and a better economy. Look at where our economy is today.

Look at Palau, with its rich marine life along the corridors of the world famous rock islands at its doorstep, it has successfully instituted strict internal controls on fishing and harvesting of marine resources and, more importantly, has not allowed “outsiders” to unilaterally force the issue. We have learned from Palau the meaning and value of independence. Maybe we can learn from them the virtues of patience and deliberation when it comes to managing and preserving our valuable marine resources.

This brings me to the purpose of this letter. If the National Marine Monument is to be accepted by the people of the Northern Marianas, hopefully after much more deliberation, I offer a proposition that would maximize the benefits for our people. It is no secret that with the pullout of the Marines from Okinawa, Guam and the CNMI will become the strategic fullback position. Expectedly, the military will need to conduct frequent battle exercises where it is allowed.

The fact is, from the military point of view, we live in the largest strategic location in this part of the world. Hence, we play a very crucial role in U.S. military defense plan; a role we can develop collaboratively. Utilizing the 200-mile economic zone provides the opportunity for the U.S. military and its allies to conduct extensive training exercises including but not limited to amphibious landing in Pagan and long-range missile tests to the island of Aguiguan, if I may be so bold to suggest. The CNMI has the potential to become the most active location for U.S. military training exercises in the Pacific.

In anticipation of the inevitable military presence here in the Northern Marianas, I would like to propose that we offer to the U.S. military a 99-year lease for the islands of Uracas, Maug, Asuncion, Pagan and Aguiguan for say 5 billion U.S. dollars. That sounds like a lot of money but 99 years is a very long time. Five billion dollars represent what the U.S. spends every 15 days trying to bring democracy to the people of Iraq. The value of this lease to the military to conduct their training and exercises for 99 years is priceless.

We can certainly use the money during this our worsening harsh economic time. With these funds, we can to take care of:

1. our unfunded Retirement Fund liabilities

2. our collapsing infrastructure

3. our inadequate health facilities

4. our declining scholarship fun

5. Tinian harbor break water

6. Saipan’s polluted lagoon

7. Rota’s hard-to-get-of-the ground casino industry

8. the budget shortfalls in various areas of public services

9. a beneficial vocational education system

10. our college

11. a set of magnet schools in the our secondary school system

12. and maybe we can finally attract more conscientious and qualified medical professionals on island so we can reduced the need to refer patients off-islands at millions of dollars per year

13. redeem all land compensation obligation including wetland

14. and on and on and on

The opportunities are endless if we plan carefully and waste not our energy trying to give away our valuable resources for free. We are limited only by our own imagination. The bottom-line is, collectively we can do so much good. We need to get beyond today and tomorrow and extend our vision farther into the future. For once, let us commit ourselves to becoming less reactive and more proactive.

It bothers me to think that if not for Pew the people of the Northern Marianas will not deliberate on its own on how to best manage and sustain its natural resources in their own best interest. No, I think not.

FRANK ALDAN
As Mahetog, Saipan

Frank Aldan is a former Commonwealth Representative.

Uncle Karl in the Marianas Variety

The Marianas Variety carried a story today about the letter that Uncle Karl wrote to the Legislature:

Ex-lawmaker urges Legislature to support marine monument proposal
Thursday, 18 September 2008
By Gemma Q. Casas - Variety News Staff

THE former chairman of the local Republican Party who served two terms in the House of Representatives is urging the Legislature to support the proposed Marianas Trench Marine National Monument, which he says is a project that will fulfill the mandates of the CNMI Constitution to protect the islands’ marine resources.

“It will…benefit generations of Chamorros and Carolinians to come,” said Karl T. Reyes in a letter to the presiding officers of the Legislature and Gov. Benigno R. Fitial.

The administration and the Legislature, as well as CNMI municipal officials, are opposed to the proposal.

Reyes said the proposal to designate the uninhabited islands of Maug, Asuncion and Uracas as a marine sanctuary will help restock the islands’ marine resources as well as certain species such as fruit bats and coconut crabs.

“You have heard that there is a need to protect these islands because they are ‘so beautiful, so lush.’ That is exactly why we intended to protect those islands in the first place. These islands are undisturbed and they are unique and can serve as a population of wildlife to be used for restocking other islands with certain species,” he said.

Reyes, a member of the 1985 Constitutional Convention committee on personal rights and natural resources, said Uracas and Asuncion — two of the three islands proposed to be declared a marine sanctuary — are active volcanic islands unsuitable for permanent habitation.

“Furthermore, we found that these islands warranted protections because they had not sustained “substantial environmental damage caused by feral pigs and goats,” he added.

The Legislature already adopted two joint resolutions urging President Bush to reject the proposal.

Most lawmakers and the Fitial administration fear that the CNMI stands to lose access to a 200-mile exclusive economic zone surrounding the waters of the three islands if the proposal is approved.

“The people of the CNMI have a strong affinity with these islands and its surrounding waters, and have a deep sense of its connection to the culture, traditions and the unique identity of their people,” House Joint Resolution 16-13 stated.

“A unilateral designation of this area as a marine monument under the Antiquities Act without the consent of the people of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands would be an affront insult to the people, especially to the people of the CNMI,” it added.

Supporters of the project, however, said this is an opportunity for the CNMI to be known internationally about its environmental contribution to the world.