Environment

Turtles tracked for protection
Guides gather to ‘save our planet’
Turtle team heads to Palmerston
Marine park target is August
Rubbish issues tackled on Mauke
Problem ‘swept under carpet’
Clean Pacific training underway

Turtle tracks range from 90cm to 1.3m in width. 12022021

A number of turtle track sightings have been observed on Mauke’s southern shores recently.

Tracks and indications of nests have been seen along beaches stretching from Anaiti to Pohutukava, a distance of just over 2km.

Some coves have a myriad of criss-crossing tracks and dug areas, a common ploy of turtles to throw off predators.

However, there is definitely more than one turtle as tracks range from 90cm to 1.3metres in width.

But what is not so common, has been sightings of actual turtles coming ashore during the day and night.

These photos were taken by locals before the turtles were left to themselves.

Of note is the fact that there appears to be at least two distinctly different coloured turtles.

Two turtles sighted carried tags, but there were no numbers visible. Just a white round tag fixed to the right of the shell. Some wondered if there had been a homing device connected at some point, but that is only speculation.

Mauke’s Environment Officer Basilio Kaokao is awaiting tags and signs from Rarotonga’s National Environment Service office.

He will then put up signs in areas where turtle tracks are sighted and, should an actual turtle be found, will tag it so that its progress can be followed.

Basilio has been on local TV twice recently to remind people to report all sightings and not to dig up nests or harm turtles.

The killing of a turtle incurs an instant fine of $10,000 and $250 for every day that the fine isn’t paid.

That may seem an incredibly severe penalty, but is a good deterrent for those who, not so many years ago, were allowed to catch and eat turtles, and their eggs.

A number of adults have mentioned that the meat is very delicious, but they realise now that is not allowed.

Of concern is the fact that roaming pigs have been seen digging in the vicinity of turtle nests. The problem of roaming pigs both inland, where in one raid they can devastate hundreds or thousands of dollars in crops, and on the seaside, where they are a threat to native ecosystems, is an ongoing issue.

Basilio agrees that when we consider that 15 or more years ago these turtles will have hatched on Maukean beaches, travelled huge distances, and still found their way home to continue the cycle it is something incredibly marvellous, and we are proud that they are Maukeans.

• June Hosking

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Locals look on as this turtle heads back to open seas. 12022025

 

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More than one variety of turtle has been seen coming ashore on Mauke recently. 12022023

 

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One of a number of turtles coming to Mauke’s shores in recent times. 12022024

 

Cook Islands Girl Guides will continue with their environmental thinking that guided them during this flower arrangement competition last year. 12022112

Girl Guides in the Cook Islands are today celebrating World Thinking Day to commemorate the organisation’s members across the globe and the friendship that exists between them in all corners of the world.

Cook Islands Girl Guides groups are part of a global network that takes in 145 countries and about 10 million members worldwide.

Each year, every group uses World Thinking Day on February 22 to celebrate its global community and promote its so-called Global Action Theme, which is based on the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals.

The theme for World Thinking Day 2012 has the girls worldwide saying “we can save our planet”.

The Nikao Girl Guides Company was tasked to plan events on Rarotonga this year, were asked to come up with something that is relevant to its members.

Weekly church services are held every Wednesday in most CICC Ekalesia in the Cook Islands, so the Nikao Girl Guides thought this will be an ideal time to bring the members together to remember other guide members in the world through a prayer service and after by raising the Girl Guide world flag to mark the day.

They will also use the day to present a number of awards to Girl Guide members from across the Cook Islands.

Nine women from the outer islands and Rarotonga will be presented with an Asia Pacific Region Leadership Award during the day.

Three will receive “state awards” including Toka Takai and Tohoa Takai from Tauhunu in Manihiki and Tereapii Taokia from Oneroa, Mangaia.

Five women will be presented with service awards, including   Sue Ngatokorua from Oneroa, Mangaia, and Maina Tairi, Karen Tairea, Kafo Tuteru and Tukiongo Wright from Rarotonga.

One woman, Katuke Kopa from Titikaveka, Rarotonga, will take home an award from the unit award section.

These ladies have been chosen to receive the awards for giving their services to the Cook Islands girls and young women. They have all been organisation for many years and the Guides are honored to present these awards on behalf of the Asia Pacific Committee in the Region.

Other companies on the islands are also part of this prayer service.

The Avarua Girl Guides Company, St Joseph, Arorangi, Titikaveka, Ngatangia and Matavera Catholic were expected to come together for this special service at 6am today in the Nikao CICC Ekalesia.

The Girl Guides on Rarotonga also donate food parcels to their brothers and sisters in the Catholic Church each year, while doing the same for our brothers and sisters in the Takamoa Theological College in October on the Cook Islands Day each year.

Today, the guides will reflect on how they can be more environmentally conscious and make a personal commitment to change the world around them.

• Eric Parnis

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This local judge will have to make for global judges on World Thinking Today as the Cook Islands Girl Guides think green and ponder their role in the global effort to be sustainably and environmentally sound. 12022111

 

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Cook Islands Girl Guides, here with their patron Lady Ina Goodwin, will celebrate World Thinking Day today. 12022114

 

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Cook Islands Girl Guides will celebrate World Thinking Day today to reflect on their role in the global organisation which takes in 145 countries and about 10 million members. 12022113

 

A green turtle tagged in Penrhyn. 12021744

Turtle researcher Dr Mike White, pictured here in Pukapuka with the principal of Pukapuka School, will be leading the expedition to Palmerston. 12021742

An eight-person team from Rarotonga is headed to Palmerston in April to research the island’s sea turtle population.

The Cook Islands Turtle Project (CITP) – a subsidiary of Pacific Islands Conservation Initiative (PICI) – recently received a grant from the Rufford Small Grounds Foundation to conduct sea turtle research on Palmerston.

The funding has been earmarked for the team to “assess the current distribution, abundance and population status of marine turtles at Palmerston Atoll”.

The expedition’s research objectives are to determine which sea turtle species are present (and their life stages), to identify key nesting sites and quantify nesting abundance and nest success, to gather information about nesting seasonality and peak egg-laying periods, to identify marine habitats used by sea turtles and their purpose, and to identify threats and impacts to sea turtles and their habitats.

The team will be led by CITP chief scientist Dr Michael White, who spent all of last year studying turtles in Penrhyn. Researchers will travel aboard Southern Cross to Palmerston and for the entire month will be doing in-water surveys, tagging land-based turtles and studying nests and hatchlings.

The eight researchers will be working with members of the Palmerston community to conduct their land-based and in-water surveys, and hope to utilise local knowledge to better achieve their research aims.

“It will be really fun to engage the kids in real-time research and to show them what fantastic and interesting resources are right outside their doors!” Jess Cramp of PICI said.

This expedition will lead to the first published study of Palmerston’s turtles in over a decade. The most recent research was conducted by Nan Hauser and Hoyt Peckham for the Centre of Cetacean Research over 10 years ago.

• Rachel Reeves

The shaded area denotes the area of the proposed Cook Islands marine park. Cabinet has yet to make a decision on where the park will begin and end. 11042703

To accommodate the prime minister’s desire to formally launch the marine park in August, the steering committee in charge of determining its scope and size is working double-time.

The committee originally agreed to meet on a ‘need-to’ basis, but chair Liz Koteka says that’s turning out to be ‘quite often’.

Comprising the steering committee are heads of ministries and nominated representatives from the Office of the Prime Minister, Ministry of Marine Resources, Cook Islands Tourism Corporation, Ministry of Finance and Economic Management, National Environment Service, Ministry of Infrastructure and Planning, Koutu Nui, Te Ipukarea Society and House of Ariki.

No outside consultants have been hired, as during consultations last year the public expressed its desire to implement a marine park “driven by us, which suits us”, Koteka said.

She added that the pressure is on the committee to make sound decisions, as other marine parks around the region – such as the Phoenix Islands Protected Area – comprise uninhabited areas. The point of difference for the Cook Islands is that its proposed park includes multiple inhabited islands, complicating its management.

“We really need to have a good balance between conservation and economic growth and social (development),” Koteka said.

She says the committee is taking a comprehensive approach to the marine park concept, taking into consideration all raui already in place, and the connections between the nearshore, reef and ocean environments.

At a workshop last Thursday, the committee focused on articulating its vision and laying the foundation for a regulatory framework which will inform the marine park’s management plan.

The committee is dedicated to finalising the park’s boundaries and deciding which zones will offer which levels of protection before August.

Cabinet is expected to make a decision about whether the marine park will be restricted to the southern group, or whether it will extend into the north, before next month.

After that, the committee will start working with MMR and MOIP (through its connections with SPREP and SOPAC) to map the Cook Islands’ marine environment.

“We’ll work with them to identify key areas of biological and ecological significance,” Koteka said. Such areas as Suwarrow and the outer slopes of the Rarotonga reef have already been pegged as ‘biologically significant’.

Between March 14 and 16, representatives from regional and international partner organisations – and potential donors – are coming to Rarotonga for a meeting about spatial planning and how it relates to the Cook Islands marine park. Spatial planning will be a key step in the process of setting up zones, in the same way the Great Barrier Reef management has.

Consultations with the Cook Islands communities last year revealed that most of the public does not want a ‘total no-take’ park.

“That’s unrealistic – the committee wants the marine park to be a multi-use area, with zonations for usage, like the Great Barrier Reef,” Koteka said.

After the March meeting, the committee will have about five months to determine the park’s boundaries and draw up a regulatory framework.

Following on from the launch will be the long process of drafting of legislation and specific regulations.

“Talking with other countries that have established large marine-protected areas, their experience has been it takes quite awhile (to write regulations),” Koteka said.

But having already secured the support of local, regional and international non-government organisations, the committee is confident it can accomplish its vision in a timely manner.

That support will be even more important when the marine park becomes a reality.

“We know it’s going to be a challenge, particularly in terms of monitoring, but these are the same challenges sites like Papahanaumokuakea, with the backing of the US government, still face,” Koteka said.

Prime Minister Henry Puna told Forum leaders last year about his intention to launch the Cook Islands’ marine park – which he said will encompass half the country’s exclusive economic zone – at the Forum in August.

• Rachel Reeves

Environment Officer Basilio Kaokao, Island Secretary Teariki Rongo and Mayor George Samuela with Mauke’s new recycling bins. 12021930

Mauke’s Environment Officer Basilio Kaokao is pleased to finally see a dream coming true as Mayor George Samuela and Island Secretary Teariki Rongo support his efforts to take Mauke’s waste management to new levels.

The clearly marked mesh bins designated for aluminium, glass, plastic, and general waste are being distributed around the villages, thus making it easier for people to sort and dispose of their rubbish.

Basilio presented the Mayor and Island Secretary with Waste Management t-shirts as all bins will be managed by the Island Administration, processed and stored inland at the Agriculture and Infrastructure area.

“This is only the first stage,” remarks Basilio, “we hope one day to have a crusher and take this to the next level.”

Local businesses are also providing their own wheelie bins and Basilio has requested assistance for more bins from businesses in Rarotonga. He is thankful to Rite Price and BCI who have offered to help and expects more positive replies from Rarotonga in the near future.

• June Hosking

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Stage one in better waste management for Mauke. 12021931

 

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In January, Dora Evans discovered a five-metre deep hole next door to her Betela property. 12012779

A five-metre drop along the edge of the Evans’ property in Betela is now gone, with the fill now reaching up to just under ground level. 12021624

Contractors who mined a property in Betela of its sand which was later filled with illegally dumped rubbish have been instructed to remove the waste and properly secure the edges of the pit.

The National Environment Service (NES) has instructed G&S Contractors, the company that mined the Betela property, to cease operations on the site, secure the property from further dumping and stabilise the boundary line along one edge of the pit.

Complainants who brought the problem site to NES’s attention are unhappy with the action taken, saying the service has completely missed the reason for their concern.

Arorangi great-grandparents Dora and Glynne Evans contacted the NES in mid-January after visiting their Betela property to find the neighbouring land had been mined of its sand and was slowly filling with dumped rubbish.

A five-metre cliff face backed on to their property just centimetres from their fence line.

Below, a growing pile of rubbish included televisions, fridges, computer parts, building materials, gas bottles, green waste and other household waste.

The NES inspected the site on January 31, issuing two points of action as a result.

In the first point, NES instructs G&S Contractors “to cease operation on site and the need to secure the property from further dumping by nearby neighbours and the public, ie: install no dumping signs and tie chain/rope around property to stop trucks entering the property”.

On the second point, it ordered G&S to “stabilise the (Evans’) boundary line by removing all green waste debris dumped in the hole close to the (Evans’) boundary and then backfilling it with a hard fill”.

In January, G&S’s Robert Wichman said the rubbish collection at the site was being illegally dumped by the general public.

Cook Islands News tried to contact G&S Contractors for comment but received no response.

When CINews visited the Betela site yesterday, waste was still visible in the pit.

Some waste could be seen buried in dirt along the Evans’ boundary while other waste, including computer parts, a microwave and general waste, could still be seen in the open further away from the Evans’ property.

The five-metre cliff was gone, with fill reaching almost up to ground level and tapering off in a shallow slope away from the edge of the Evans’ property.

A rope had been extended around the site, but was pulled down in some areas.

Yesterday, Dora said NES had missed the point of her and her husband’s complaint.

She said boundaries right around the property needed to be stabilised, not just hers, and that NES’s response was not going to help protect the environment in the long-run.

“They just mentioned one boundary – there are two others there. The only reason they made that action was because I was standing there. They’ve missed the whole principle, which is that the land is falling into the hole,” Dora said.

Glynne went on to say the action would not help protect the environment and he still feared the lagoon would be poisoned by the waste at the site.

“It’s something that’s been swept under the rug for 100 years here, it’s happened time and again.

“In 20 years time when all this starts leaking in the land, this will poison the lagoon.”

• Eric Parnis

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Material being used to fill in the excavated sand mine at Betela. 12021623

 

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Although the edge of the Evans property has been reinforced, other sides of the Betela sand mine were not required to undergo the same treatment. 12021627

 

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Inorganic rubbish remains discarded on the Betela property which was mined of sand last year. 12021625

 

Children at Nadi Sangam School proudly showing their reusable trash bags. 12021501

Nooroa Rangi of Ruaau, who has been spearheading the community’s Taau Taku Tita project, is representing the Cook Islands at a ‘Clean Pacific Campaign’ training workshop in Fiji this week.

‘Every Action Counts’ is the theme of the workshop, which was organised by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), at the Tanoa Skylodge Hotel in Nadi.

The workshop, aimed at preparing countries for the 2012 Clean Pacific Campaign, will increase participants’ understanding of waste management, in particular, recycling, composting and developing awareness programmes and fundraising proposals.

Opening the workshop, Fiji’s Department of Environment director Jope Davetanivalu reminded participants that the success of the recently-launched regional Clean Pacific campaign will depend on the level of commitment and contribution from each of them. He urged focus and action from “policy makers to local villages”, stressing that everyone is responsible for bringing about a clean Pacific.

The Clean Pacific Campaign is SPREP’s 2012 flagship programme to galvanise action in the region at all levels for better management of waste and pollution in the islands.

Several countries have designated national “campaign ambassadors” who will be responsible for coordinating campaign activities through the year.

“Running a regional campaign requires the efforts of everyone,” said David Haynes, SPREP’s director for waste management and pollution control.

“This week we hope to create a network of dedicated individuals who will be equipped and confident to advocate the Clean Pacific message in their communities and countries.”

Palau participant Isumechraard Ngirairiki said the workshop has afforded her the opportunity to learn from her counterparts from across the region.

“It’s helpful to realise that you are not alone and that other islands are facing the same problems that we do in Palau. There are some really exciting things that different countries are doing in waste management and awareness-raising, and I hope to replicate some of these in Palau,” she said.

The four-day workshop, now in its second day, will cover waste minimisation options including composting techniques, recycling options, awareness programmes, as well as issues related to marine pollution and the disposal of more complicated waste such as electronic/electrical goods (e-waste), asbestos and hazardous chemicals.

The workshop, co-funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), is organised by SPREP with assistance from the Nadi and Lautoka Municipal Councils, and OISCA International in Fiji.

• SPREP