Regional
HONOLULU — (11 June 2025) The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council took final action today to authorize the use of electronic monitoring (EM) as a mandatory tool for data collection aboard longline vessels operating under Hawai‘i and American Samoa limited-entry permits.
The Council’...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — An expert says there is pushback from environmental groups when it comes to cleaning up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
Bradley Nolan, waste management adviser at the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Program (SPREP), spoke at the 32nd Pacific Islands...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA [Monday, 9 June 2025, 8:23 pm] — A new report launched today reveals that the deep sea mining plans of California-based company Impossible Metals pose serious environmental risks, despite the company’s claims of “sustainable” and “selective” operations.
Timed to coincide...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Tonga's Princess Angelika Lātūfuipeka Tukuʻaho is calling for whales to have legal rights.
"The time has come to recognize whales not merely as resources but as sentient beings with inherent rights," Princess Angelika told the One Ocean Science Congress in France....
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Plans for the military parade on President Donald Trump’s birthday as part of the celebrations around the Army’s 250th birthday this month are well underway as first detailed by The Associated Press last month, calling for about 6,600 soldiers, 150 vehicles and 50...
HONOLULU — (June 04, 2025) The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council is convening June 9–11 in Honolulu to review major federal policy changes that could reshape fisheries access across the Pacific Islands, and to take final action on several critical fishery management measures. The...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Palau's president says the US to fast-track deep sea mining is not a good idea.
Deep sea mining frontrunner The Metals Company (TMC) has since confirmed it will not apply for a mining license through the International Seabed Authority (ISA), instead opting to apply...
HONOLULU — From shifting ocean temperatures to changing fishery participation, the Pacific’s marine ecosystems are in flux. The Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) is meeting June 4–6, 2025, to review the latest science and data behind...
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — When Helen Clark's Labour government brought in a law that would create waves of undocumented children, even the immigration experts had no idea of the impact it would have on thousands of lives.
The 2006 Citizenship Amendment Act ended automatic citizenship for children...
NEW YORK — With just days to go before the Third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3), The Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), is calling on world leaders to recognize the Ocean as a central pillar of climate action in the lead-up to COP30.
This appeal comes at a critical juncture. Ten...

![The camera from an electronic monitoring system captures a bird’s eye view of the fishing vessel deck. This allows video reviewers to identify fish and other marine species brought onboard. [photo: NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center] camera shot from an electronic monitoring system](https://samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/fisheries_monitoring_system.jpg?itok=7bv9ArPt)
![There is an estimated 200M tons of plastic littering our oceans. [Photo: amazon.com - project oceanus] PACIFIC GARBAGE PATCH IMAGE](https://samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/garbage_patch_image.jpeg?itok=Q2ujKtyw)

![Tonga's Princess Angelika Lātūfuipeka Tukuʻaho has taken up the cause of Aotearoa's Kiingi Tuheitia and the Cook Islands Kaumaiti Nui Tou Ariki championing legal rights for whales. [courtesy photo] Tonga's Princess Angelika Lātūfuipeka Tukuʻaho](https://samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/tonga_princess_angelika.jpeg?itok=gnpESR84)
![TANKS IN D.C. — A SIGN OF THE TIMES? M1A2 Abrams tanks are parked in West Potomac Park ahead of the upcoming U.S. Army 250th anniversary celebration and parade in Washington, D.C., June 10, 2025. [photo: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters] TANKS IN D.C.](https://samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/tank_in_d.c.jpeg?itok=SsIaPxgG)

![Surangel Whipps Jr, left, wanted US President-elect Donald Trump to see firsthand the impacts of climate change in this composite file photo taken prior to Trump’s inauguration. [Photo: RNZ Pacific / PICRC] Surangel Whipps Jr, with trump](https://samoanews.com/sites/default/files/styles/teaser/public/field/image/4kflsif_whipps_trump_coral_png.jpg?itok=lcVO6tyU)


