Journal 12/24/1982
P1 AMI 748 arriving Christmas Eve
Air Marshall Islands own BAC748 aircraft is scheduled to arrive December 24 (there was no room for Santa Claus because it is filled with spare parts). An official handover ceremony at the airport for the 48-seat turbo-prop plane will be held soon after arrival. The first revenue flight will be to Kili Island on Sunday December 26.
P6 Editorial 177 talks
The failure of the US to bend at all on the 177 talks is disappointing and a little puzzling. For a relatively few millions dollars — with little or nothing more up front in the early years of the Compact — a settlement with radiation-affected people of the Marshalls could be achieved. The people of such places as Rongelap and Utrik look at the expenditure of over $100 million to clean up parts of Enewetak Atoll and then see a refusal by the US to set aside adequate sums for PEOPLE affected by radiation. If there is much more delay in reaching agreement the ultimate cost to the US could be higher in the long run. It is reasonable that the US provide radiation dose assessments for 1946 to 1978 rather than in effect saying “you figure out how much radiation we exposed you to.”
P8 Honolulu 177 talks break down
The 177 talks in Honolulu broke down last week because of the United States refusal to negotiate any significant issue, according to observers who came back disappointed. The main issue centers around increased compensation for victims of the US nuclear weapons testing program.
Journal 12/20/1991
P3 177 money won’t be adequate
Four months after the Nuclear Claims Tribunal issued the first compensation check for health damages, the chairman of the Tribunal says “it is pretty obvious that the $45 million will not be enough to satisfy both the personal injury and property damage claims.” Close to 300 health claims have been approved, committing about $9.1 million of the total compensation provided to the Tribunal by the US through Section 177 in the Compact.
Journal 12/23/2011
P3 World first for tuna industry
The approval last week by an independent judge in London of a Pacific fisheries management program is being hailed as a world first that will provide financial incentives for fishing nations to sustainably harvest tuna in the region. “This will change fisheries management as we know it,” Glen Joseph, the director of the Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority, said Thursday. He was reacting to London-based independent adjudicator Melanie Carter’s decision to reject objections by some tuna industry players to a plan that will allow the Parties to the Nauru Agreement to enforce new standards controlling the lucrative purse seine fishing industry in the Pacific. “The certification of free-school catches of skipjack tuna by purse seiners is the first of its kind,” Joseph said.
P26 They’re off to the world of Oz
Two Marshall Islanders have been accepted to study for their master’s degrees in Australia and will depart early next month. Moriana Phillip and Laurence Edwards, II were selected as part of a group of 200 Australian Leadership Awards scholarship recipients internationally.