Results for Pacific Islands

Key management measures were rolled over to secure the tuna fishery for the coming year, said Pacific Island Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) Director General, Dr Manu Tupou-Roosen. This was after a virtual meeting of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) last week.

The New Zealand Government will purchase COVID-19 vaccines from pharmaceutical companies AstraZeneca and Novavax, meaning every New Zealander will be able to be vaccinated, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. “We have secured more than enough doses to cover our entire population plus the Pacific,” she said. Vaccinations for the public are on track to start in mid-2021.

A set of principles and best practices was presented by the Regional Pacific Women’s Network Against Violence Against Women and UN Women Fiji Multi-Country Office, on December 7.

Two crew members of the cargo ship MV Island Chief that arrived in Fiji on 2 December 2020 have tested positive for COVID-19 and are in isolation at the Navua Hospital. Fiji officials who boarded the vessel and their close contacts are also in quarantine, Fiji's Dr James Fong said today. The vessel's last port of call was Nuku'alofa in Tonga on 30 November,

Up to 2,000 experienced seasonal workers from the Pacific will be allowed into New Zealand in 2021 to address labour shortages in the horticulture and wine growing sectors. But countries wanting to send workers must agree to take back not only their new workers coming under the border exception but also other RSE employees already in NZ when the 2020/2021 season ends.

The 152 Tongan fruit pickers who arrived in Emerald, Australia, on 29 October were able to work during the two weeks of quarantine on a farm, under a pilot trial, that has saved fruit from rotting. Queensland was the first state in Australia to allow farmworkers to work while quarantining.

Australia will provide AUD$42.5 million in core funding to the Pacific Community [SPC] over the next three-years to support their renewed 10-year strategic partnership (2014-2023).

New York Times reporting: Nanaia Mahuta entered New Zealand’s Parliament as the youngest Maori woman to ever gain a seat. More than two decades later, she has become the country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, another trailblazing first. Labour’s newly elected majority is made up mostly of women...it is, by far, the most diverse Parliament the country has ever seen, reflecting New Zealand’s demographics and its place within the broader Pacific islands.

Seventeen people are now in managed quarantine in Samoa, after a CoViD-19 infected container ship passed through Apia on the weekend. Meanwhile, Vanuatu has recorded its first CoViD-19 case, and Solomon Islands has seen more COVID cases arriving.