Neu: 2001-08-22 Contents of this issue: 1. Gun Controls 2. Niue Next? 3. Extended Flights 4. Dope Find ======================================================================== August 22nd, 2001 1. Gun Controls: Niue police and Cabinet are discussing gun control measures on the island following the fatal shooting of a prison inmate last week. The shooting - the second of its kind in 10 months - has prompted calls for temporary confiscation of more than 300 shotguns held by the island's 1750 residents. Officials confirm there are a number of unregistered firearms in the community and some weapons are in a dangerous condition. The Police department attempt to inspect registered shotguns each year and control the sale of ammunition. But this does not deter gunowners from illegally importing their own ammunition. Over the past five years several men have been convicted of smuggling boxes of ammunition into Niue from New Zealand. The shotguns are used for shooting wandering pigs, pigeons and flying fox.The weapons are often left in the back of cars and vans or lying around in homes. Its understood police favour a ban on the further importation of shotguns and a temporary confiscation of weapons. Conservation officers estimate there has been a dramatic reduction in the number of pigeons and flying foxes over the past few years due to overshooting. An American researcher into flying foxes recently recommended a five year moratorium on shooting the mammals to preserve the species. 2. Niue Next?: Niue is expected to following closely in the footsteps of the Cook Islands and declare its 200 mile exclusive economic zone a whale sanctuary. The Cook Islands new Deputy Prime Minister Dr Robert Woonton has become the driving force behind the moves to declare the Cook Islands Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) a whale sanctuary.The Cooks will be the first Pacific nation to declare a sanctuary following the failure of New Zealand to muster enough International Whaling Commission members to support a South Pacific sanctuary. Since 1988 humpback whales visiting Niue during May to September have dropped by almost 80%. An average of five or six of the mammals are seen off Niue each year - the come to the island to give birth and mate before heading south to Antarctica. (PINA Nius/NER) 3. Extended Flights: Samoa's Polynesian Airlines plans to relaunch its second weekly Apia-Honolulu flight in October after getting its second Boeing 737-800 aircraft, Pacific Islands manager Toleafoa J. Nickel said. The Samoa government-owned airline first resumed its Hawaii flights in November of last year using a new long-range B737-800 series, with two weekly flights. But in early May the airline reduced its flights to once a week. "We are doing very well with our Honolulu flights and have had to leave passengers behind because the flights have been so full in the last four weeks," said Toleafoa in a telephone interview from Apia. But sources in Apia said there is a flow of American Samoa passengers routing through Apia on Polynesian instead of using Hawaiian Airlines direct services. -( Samoa News/PINA Nius Online.). 4. Dope Find: Tongan Police have raided a property at Holonga, Tongatapu, and found a total of 144 marijuana (Indian hemp) plants. Police inspector Tevita Sili, who is in charge of the Mu'a police station, about 20 kms to the east of Nuku'alofa, said the raid resulted from a woman reporting to police that she had seen plants that she suspected of being marijuana. Police then investigated the seemingly abandoned bush property at Holonga village, but underneath the tail grass they found flourishing marijuana plants.Investigations are continuing. (PIR) Lower Charges: Leaders of the 16 Pacific Island Forum countries have called for a lowering of telecommunication charges to help improve the delivery of education to people in the Pacific. The Forum, which wound up a leaders' summit meeting at the weekend, adopted several recommendations from a meeting of education ministers earlier this year, who were asked to address concerns that basic education systems were failing young Pacific Islanders. The leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum agreed that more needs to be done in the Island countries to provide the necessary resources for basic education. They recognised how important information technology is in the delivery of education in the modern world and called on member countries, as a matter of urgency, to see how they could cut the high cost of accessing the Internet in many island countries.(PIR) __END__
