Page 27 - IB FEB 2017

Movers & Shakers

She rose through the ranks to become with me today,” Sr Angela said. are being offered in conjunction with
Manager Programmes, the post she held “Fiji is always in my heart. I’m so ex- the Tongan Ministry of Tourism and
when Smith stepped down last month – as cited about celebrating my birthday among New Zealand-based Learn.fast Centre in
first revealed by Islands Business. people who have become my family. And Nuku’alofa.
Lobendahn is expected to act in the this is all because of God’s grace,” she Topics to be covered include branding
position and eventually take over after a said. and marketability, Pacific tourism trends,
board meeting later this year. Sister Angela received gifts and a bou- increasing business profits, tourism mar-
quet of flowers specially picked from the keting on small budgets, sustainable “best
Tonga tourism boss Government House garden. practices”for small business; and crisis
TONGA has announced the appoint- and risk management.
ment of Fekitamoeloa Katoa ‘Utoikamanu Slow fish month A second workshop focuses on indi-
as the new Chief Executive Officer of the ONLY 21 purse seiners transshipped vidual business coaching to trainees who
Ministry of Tourism. tuna in Majuro lagoon during December require further assistance. Each work-
‘Utoikamanu was appointed on January — lower than the monthly average, which shop is designed to inspire and motivate
for a four-year term. She has had a long reflects both the time of year and location managers, owners and family members
and prestigious career in the public and of tuna schools, according to fisheries of micro, small and medium enterprises,
regional service, and has also represented observers. which make up the bulk of the private
the kingdom as a senior diplomat. As it has developed in the past sev- sector in Tonga, to develop and build on
She entered the civil service in 1983 as eral years into the world’s busiest tuna their capabilities.
a macro economist for the then Central transshipment port, Majuro has aver-
Planning Department, followed by senior aged over 50 transshipments per month. Health project
positions in various ministries including The Marshall Islands Marine Resources THE US Agency for International Devel-
Foreign Affairs. Authority reports that 13 carrier vessels opment (USAID), launched a new project
Welcoming the appointment, SPTO chief and 25 purse seiners were in port during that will help make the health systems of
executive officer Chris Cocker said: “The December, with 21 of them engaging in Pacific Island communities more adaptive
tourism sector in Tonga presents a major transshipment. to climate change.
economic development opportunity for the The number of transshipments is lower Through its Pacific-American Cli-
country, accounting for 16.9 per cent of the than in other months of 2016 and could mate Fund (PACAM), USAID awarded a
country’s GDP in 2015. And it is projected reflect shifts in the location of tuna schools US$250,000 grant to the Foundation of
to become the most significant economic that have moved farther west as the El the Peoples of the South Pacific Interna-
sector by 2020.” Nino weather condition has subsided and tional (FSPI).
‘Utoikamanu served as Tonga’s Perma- water temperatures are changing. FSPI will implement the Mainstreaming
nent Representative and Ambassador to Indigenous and Local Knowledge into Hu-
the United Nations from 2004-2009 and FAD rules clarified man Health Responses to Climate Change
joined the Pacific Community (SPC) based A FEW weeks after the Western and project with USAID support.
in its Fiji sub-regional headquarters as the Central Pacific Fisheries Commission an- This project will help the peoples of
Deputy Director General. nual meeting in Fiji, the head-scratching Tuvalu and Solomon Islands use local and
continued over the application of the rules, indigenous knowledge to inform policies
100 years old with Japan writing to the WCPFC for clari- and scale up successful initiatives. This
AN Irish nun who has served Fiji for fication about FADs. will contribute to building climate resilient
more than 50 years has celebrated her Paragraph 18 of the Conservation and health systems in the long term.
100th birthday. Management Measure lumped together US Ambassador Judith Cefkin reaf-
Sister Angela Cavey of the Sisters of rules for 2015 and 2016 with the new firmed the American people’s commitment
Saint Joseph of Cluny arrived in Fiji in rules of a prohibition of setting on FADs to the well-being of the peoples of the
1967 and was posted to the Cook Islands for the high seas. When questioned by Pacific Islands. “No nation, no matter
in 1973. Five years later she returned to Japan the WCPFC Secretariat responded how developed or powerful, is immune
Fiji where she has remained. the new rules for 2017 are: from the effects of climate change. But
Fiji’s President, Major-General Jioji Kon- • the 4-month FAD closure or alternative I know that for you here in the Pacific
rote, and his wife, Sarote, were part of her FAD set limit Island region as a whole, climate change
birthday celebrations and the Archbishop • the prohibition on setting on FADs on is about survival. In many parts of the
of Suva, Dr Peter Loy Choing, celebrated a the high seas, with the exemptions as region, people are already dealing with the
special thanksgiving mass. described in footnote 5, as amended at effects of climate change such as eroding
“I’m so thankful to God for blessing me WCPFC13, shorelines, depleted fisheries, and flood-
with long life and also giving me wonder- * and the exception for those Kiribati- ing. This is what makes our cooperation
ful friends and lovely people who are here flagged vessels fishing in the adjacent on climate change so vital.”
high seas. US Ambassador Judith Cefkin reaf-
firmed the American people’s commitment
Training workshops to the well-being of the people of the
THE South Pacific Tourism Organisa- Pacific Islands.
tion (SPTO) is holding a series of short, FSPI is a regional non-governmental
innovative tourism business training organisation committed to partnerships
workshops aimed at micro, small and towards sustainable development and
medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Tonga. people-centered programs in pursuit of
The series of six, hour-long workshops self-reliance, justice and peace.

Islands Business, February 2017 27