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Category Archives: Islands

Islands Trust applies as a commenter on pipeline expansion

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The Islands Trust is among one of the more than 2,000 applicants hoping have their opinions heard at a set of National Energy Board hearings into the expansion of Kinder Morgans Trans Mountain pipeline. The Trust had made a formal request to the NEB that they extend the deadline for application, but the request was denied.

I know we are not the only ones who have made such a request, says Sheila Malcolmson, Council Chair of the Islands Trust. We would have liked to have had more time to make the application so that we could have more public debate surrounding the issue prior to making our submission.

The NEBs deadline for submitting an application on this matter was February 12th. Malcolmson says the Islands Trust was not informed of this until January 14th, which left, as stated in the letter requesting an extension, an insufficient amount of notice for an elected body with accountability to taxpayers to make such a significant decision.

The Islands Trust requested that the deadline be extended until March 7th, so that the Council could discuss the issue at its meeting taking place between March 4th and 6th.

Malcolmson says that the request was denied promptly, and the Islands Trust did manage to get their application in prior to the deadline.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also requested a deadline extension (the risk of an oil spill caused by increased tanker traffic in along coastal waters is of significant concern to the state of Washington) and was also rejected. However, the EPA did not manage to get its submission in prior to the deadline.

In applying to participate in the hearings, the Islands Trust chose the role of a commenter on the Kinder Morgan project.

As an intervenor, we will have the opportunity to make a very thorough written submission outlining our concerns about marine safety and the increase in tanker traffic that the pipeline will bring to our waters, says Malcolmson. As our members are not situated along the actual route of the pipeline, and the hearings are actually focused on the pipeline itself and not tanker traffic, we decided to use this particular method for stating our case. We have a very limited budget and we want to use a variety of approaches to change policies on oil spills and tankers. We didnt want to put all our eggs in one basket, with these hearings alone.

The Islands Trust could have applied to be an intervenor, as the City of Vancouver has. Malcolmson says that at the NEB hearings for the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline, intervenors essentially got the chance to hold something comparable to the trial to state their case, hiring lawyers to cross-examine expert witnesses. All of this was open to public viewing.

But we have no idea what the process is going to look like this time around, says Malcolmson. The rules for these hearings changed as part of the 2012 federal budget, and we have no idea what the new process is going to look like. Thats another reason we wanted the extension.

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Islands Trust applies as a commenter on pipeline expansion

Japan, FFA complete fisheries fund talks in Honiara

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Japan, FFA complete fisheries fund talks in Honiara

FFA HQ, Honiara, SOLOMON ISLANDS. -- Heads of fisheries from the Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga and Tuvalu met this week in Honiara with a high-level team from Japan to talk over development funding for regional fisheries. The talks fall under the Japan Promotion Fund (JPF) agreement with the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency, FFA.

The Fund, established by Overseas Fishery Cooperation Foundation of Japan (OFCF) for FFA member countries in 2008, generated project funding for FFA members of around USD $1 million annually. This supports fisheries projects for FFA member countries. The JPF Steering Committee, a representative group of senior officials from FFA member countries and OFCF agrees on which projects receive funding support in any given year. Current steering committee members include Mr. Sylvester Diake of the Solomon Islands Ministry of Fisheries & Marine Resources, Feleti Tulafono of the Department of Fisheries in Tokelau, Nunia Mone, Head of Fisheries in Tongas Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries & Food, and Kakee Kaitu, Permanent Secretary of Tuvalus Ministry of Natural Resources.

We are particularly honoured this year that the OFCF team is headed for the first time ever by its President, Mr Yoshio Ishizuka, which is a very strong signal of the importance that OFCF places on its fisheries relationship with FFA member countries and with the FFA, said FFA Director General, Mr James Movick. He says Mr Ishizuka is a highly respected fisheries executive in Japan whose extensive background in Tuna research formed the basis of a high-level career leading up to his appointment as President of the OFCF in April 2012.

Established in 1973, the OFCF works to build relations between Japan and other coastal countries, including support for the work of regional fisheries management organisations such as FFA. The Foundation is a cooperative arrangement between the Japanese Government and the Japanese fishing industry.

Mr. Movick noted that OFCF has on going and very important bilateral fishing development programs with Pacific Island states that have fishing agreements. The associated OFCF program of technical training, study tours and invitation for key personnel program as well as the provision of important small scale fisheries development projects has significantly contributed to capacity building in Pacific Islands fisheries administrations over the past 40 years, Director General Movick said.

The two-day meeting of the Joint Steering Committee (JC) began on Monday, February 24th at the FFA headquarters. It examined proposals for upcoming projects for funding after July 2014, and reviewed current projects. Membership of the FFA member delegation to the JC rotates each year and the recommendations of the JC go to the annual FFA governing council meeting in May.ENDS

ENDS

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Japan, FFA complete fisheries fund talks in Honiara

Coins Of The British Virgin Islands

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A new book narrating the story of the British Virgin Islands coins of the 1800s and 1900s has been published by Laurel Publication International in 2011. The well-documented, ground-breaking work has a foreword by Michael ONeal, PhD, Senior Research Fellow, Island Resources Foundation. Coins of the Virgin Islands is a significant contribution to the memory bank of Virgin Islands history, Dr. ONeal said. The Author of The Beautiful and Mysterious Coins of the British Virgin Islands is BVI Philatelic Society president Dr. Giorgio Migliavacca. The findings of years of research on archive sources and lesser known published works are presented by the Author who has achieved a good balance between the historical background, the slavery issue and the numismatic focus. Migliavaccas presentation of numismatic aspects is humanistic rather than strictly scientific and provides a much wider picture. In fact, the Author throws new light on the role of local coinage during the 1800s utilizing newly uncovered and significant archival material. Modern coins and Virgin Islands currencies from the 1800s to date are also examined. This book goes beyond the numismatic side of the story and explores the socio-economic facets revealing important aspects that have not emerged before in history books. Virgin Islands coinage dates back to the early 1800s. On 3 February 1801, an Act was passed by the local Legislature to stamp, or countermark, silver and copper coins in order to create an insular coinage, Migliavacca said. In the Virgin Islands, slaves hoarded the local coins to buy their freedom, and emancipated blacks used cut money to buy estates, big and small. Even before emancipation, slaves, free blacks and Liberated Africans used Virgin Islands coins every day of the week. The local coinage was not a simple witness, it became part of unprecedented and unsuspected changes: from the abolition of slavery, to emancipation, to apprenticeship, to the dark, long and hopeless days of economic stagnation. Cut money became the key that opened the gate of true freedom, resulting in a sense of self reliance, autonomy, and security that still typifies the Virgin Islands of the third millennium, said Dr. Migliavacca. Migliavaccas narrative style makes easy reading and will prove of great interest to both coin collectors and persons interested in Virgin Islands and Caribbean history. The 52-page book is generously illustrated with well-chosen color photographs. Dr. Migliavacca is a member of the British Virgin Islands Stamp Advisory Committee since 1987. He has written articles for the ancient coins magazine Celator, and has contributed entries to the International Dictionary of Numismatics. AVAILABLE atwww.virginstamps.com

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Coins Of The British Virgin Islands

The islands with a Furry history

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Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Story last updated at 2/26/2014 - 1:49 pm

By Pat Roppel | For the Capital City Weekly

So many small islands in Southeast Alaska were dedicated in the 1920s and early 1930s to blue fox farming. It was fashionable in that era to wear fox fur coats, stoles, cuffs and collars. Two small islands, protecting Zarembo Island's St. John Harbor, nurtured foxes for their furs.

St. John Harbor indents the northwest side of Zarembo Island, off Sumner Strait and almost opposite the southern entrance to Wrangell Narrows. Today it is a favorite harbor for fishermen, fish tenders, vessels involved with nearby logging, and visiting yachts waiting for high tide to go through the narrows to Petersburg.

A number of years ago, my husband Frank and I, traveling aboard the Twinkle, decided to see if any remains could be found about 70 years after the farms were abandoned. Northerly Island - as the name implies - is an island that is at the northern mouth of the harbor. Officers on the gunboat USS Adams named it in 1885. Southerly Island is on the southwest entry. It too was named by the unimaginative officers of the Adams.

In the early 1920s, farming foxes on an island (where the animals could not swim away) became popular. W. W. McLaughlin, formerly in charge of the Petersburg Signal Corps office, decided Northerly Island suited his purposes. In 1921, he leased the island from the federal government and spent the next year building a dock and float to facilitate loading and unloading supplies.

We found where the dock had been located. The pilings were no longer visible, but we found a sturdy rock wall alongside a flat, rocked platform leading into the water. The location surprised us.

Why had he chosen this site? We knew from experience that southeast winds hit the island. Years before, on a sunny December trip, we tied to the face of the U.S. Forest Service dock on the westerly side of the bay. In the night, a strong southeaster blew up, slamming the Twinkle against the dock. The boat survived the night and in the morning we began, (after looking out at mountainous waves in Sumner Strait), a search for a protected anchorage.

The fox farm dock was on the southeasterly side, and it was uncomfortably rough there. We anchored on the westerly side of Northerly Island and still encountered wind-whipped water. With a smaller boat or skiff, the fox farmer had more choices than we did.

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The islands with a Furry history

Falkland Islands Radio Service (Port Stanley, Falkland Islands/Islas Malvinas) – 530 kHz – Video

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Falkland Islands Radio Service (Port Stanley, Falkland Islands/Islas Malvinas) - 530 kHz
Reception of Falkland Islands Radio Service (Port Stanley, Falkland Islands/Islas Malvinas) on 530 kHz by CX2ABP in Jaureguiberry, Uruguay (GF25hf) (1892 km)...

By: CX2ABP

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Falkland Islands Radio Service (Port Stanley, Falkland Islands/Islas Malvinas) - 530 kHz - Video


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