Tuna showdown looms at Samoa conference

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Majuro (Marshall Islands) (AFP) - Small Pacific island states and powerful foreign fishing nations are heading for a showdown next week over management of the world's largest tuna fishery.

The islands want the annual meeting of the influential Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) in Samoa to limit fishing for bigeye, a tuna prized by sashimi markets in Asia, America and Europe.

They also want limits placed on catches of other tunas to maintain stocks.

Nearly 60 percent of global tuna supplies comes from the central and western Pacific which has been "fished unsustainably, in contradiction to strong scientific and management advice", said Amanda Nickson, director of Global Tuna Conservation at the Washington-based Pew Charitable Trusts.

"Today, 50 more large-scale purse seine vessels are fishing these waters than 10 years ago."

Despite increasing concern over declining tuna stocks in the Pacific's US$6.0 billion fishery, the WCPFC has been unable to agree on measures that will limit fishing to what scientists see as sustainable levels.

The WCPFC includes the so-called "distant water" fleets from as far afield as Europe, China, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan.

Battle lines have now been drawn between these nations, which dominate fishing in the region, and the Pacific islands which have banded together to wield greater influence in the industry.

"The tuna commission needs to change its way of doing business and how it treats small island developing states," Glen Joseph, the Marshall Islands director of fisheries, said ahead of the December 1-5 summit.

Joseph is frustrated by what he says is a lack of action on high seas fishing, a WCPFC responsibility, to back the conservation measures eight Pacific nations, known as the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA), have imposed in their economic zones.

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Tuna showdown looms at Samoa conference

Paul Farmer on Leadership in Public Health for the Poor | Voices in Leadership at HSPH – Video

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Paul Farmer on Leadership in Public Health for the Poor | Voices in Leadership at HSPH
Paul Farmer, Chief Strategist and Co-Founder of Partners in Health, spoke at the Harvard School of Public Health as part of the Voices in Leadership series on November 4, 2014. Watch the entire...

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Paul Farmer on Leadership in Public Health for the Poor | Voices in Leadership at HSPH - Video

Take Care – Health Matters: Hassan Latif, Executive Director, Second Chance Center – Video

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Take Care - Health Matters: Hassan Latif, Executive Director, Second Chance Center
Hassan works with justice involved men and women to lead lives of success and fulfillment. After spending 18 years in Colorado state prison, Hassan knows firsthand how health care provides...

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Take Care - Health Matters: Hassan Latif, Executive Director, Second Chance Center - Video

Take Care – Health Matters: Amanda Myers, Problem Solving Court Coordinator, 18th Judicial District – Video

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Take Care - Health Matters: Amanda Myers, Problem Solving Court Coordinator, 18th Judicial District
Amanda Myers is a probation officer working with justice involved individuals who struggle with addiction. Her clients are finding success accessing health care through Medicaid while new connectio...

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Take Care - Health Matters: Amanda Myers, Problem Solving Court Coordinator, 18th Judicial District - Video

Health care push comes to bars, nail salons – Quincy Herald-Whig | Illinois & Missouri News, Sports

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By ANN SANNER Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - The pitch for health care coverage is being made at nail salons, pizzerias, mosques and even bars.

As the second enrollment period under President Barack Obama's health care law begins, advocates are employing new tactics and expanding old ones to reach people who need insurance. Some groups are targeting populations they believe slipped through the cracks during the last enrollment period.

"We've had great success at laundromats," said Robin Stockton, the navigator program director for the Center for Family Services, a nonprofit based in Camden, New Jersey.

The informal chat between wash-and-dry cycles can pique interest and lead some customers to call their hotline for more information, she said.

"Typically," she said, "the question you get back is: 'Is this that Obamacare thing?'"

Open enrollment started Saturday and runs until Feb. 15. The HealthCare.gov website, where people can sign up and search for coverage, appeared to be running smoothly Saturday.

Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell tweeted that the website opened shortly after 1 a.m., with more than 23,000 people submitting applications within the first eight hours. She said 1.2 million unique visitors looked at coverage using the site's window-shopping tool in the last week.

In Washington state, though, the health care exchange shut down after the first few hours of open enrollment as state officials and software engineers tried to resolve a problem with tax credit calculations.

And just days before open enrollment, an old video clip surfaced showing an adviser who helped draft the law saying "the stupidity of the American voter" helped Democrats pass the complex legislation. Obama, just before leaving an economic summit in Australia on Sunday, said the public was not misled about provisions of the law. He said there was no provision that was not extensively debated or made fully transparent.

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Health care push comes to bars, nail salons - Quincy Herald-Whig | Illinois & Missouri News, Sports

Community health meetings wrap up Monday

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Air and water quality. Substance abuse. Access to health care. Obesity.

Those were just a few of what Allegheny County residents identified this year as major concerns during a first-ever series of community health meetings.

The county health department organized the sessions as an effort to distribute information on the current health of the county and ask the public what it considers to be top health issues.

It is critical for us to literally be in the communities and understand whats going on there, said Karen Hacker, health department director.

The county organized meetings by council district and will cap off the series Monday with a final one conducted entirely in Spanish.

During each meeting, health department personnel presented existing data, then allowed time for residents to share their own observations, which will be used to complete a community health assessment. A total of 445 people attended the 13 meetings, Dr. Hacker said.

Issues raised at the District 12 meeting Nov. 12 at Brashear High School in Beechview were wide-ranging, some long term and others more acute. A health department employee marked every concern and recommendation on large sheets of paper.

One man spoke of recognizing the support that people need just to get access to health care. He mentioned his neighbor, a single father who needs a bypass operation that will keep him hospitalized for a significant period of time.

Its been months of him feeling like if he doesnt get it, his kids could be left without a dad, but if he does get it, whats he supposed to do with his kids?

Alison Keating, a 34-year-old emergency medical technician from Manchester, said she missed the meeting in her own district and came to Brashear to express concern about the varying cost and response times of emergency medical services.

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Community health meetings wrap up Monday

Freedom Cup Leauge Nationwide Series Race #1 @ Daytona International Speedway – Video

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Freedom Cup Leauge Nationwide Series Race #1 @ Daytona International Speedway
Welcome to Race #1 in the Freedom Cup Leauge Nationwide Series. 32 laps at the famous 2.5 mile track in beautiful Daytona Beach, Florida, under the stars. Who will come out on top, and who...

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Freedom Cup Leauge Nationwide Series Race #1 @ Daytona International Speedway - Video