Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A new poll shows a majority of New Zealanders want the fishing method of bottom trawling banned, as New Zealand is the last country operating a bottom trawling fleet in the high seas of the South Pacific.

But the Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones said it was too valuable an industry for the country to get rid of, and claims that Greenpeace — who is leading calls for a ban — was trying to trying to terminate the New Zealand fishing industry in the Pacific.

The Horizon polling reveals that 78 percent of New Zealanders want a ban on bottom trawling in the high seas.

An oceans campaigner at Greenpeace, Juan Parada, said other Pacific regional countries have been advocating for stronger rules against bottom trawling.

"It's highly destructive. It has a high impact on the ocean's health. Bottom trawlers drag heavy weighted nets across the sea floor, and they wipe out entire ecosystems in their way," Parada explained.

"This is destroying corals and sponges, catching all the creatures, like sharks, sea birds, and we know that this is really harmful for entire ocean communities, because these ecosystems are really slow to grow, and they get wiped out in minutes."

Greenpeace is particularly concerned that New Zealand's government is planning to propose at the upcoming meeting of the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organization to increase the amount of coral that can be caught before the area must be closed.

"This is a really bad look for New Zealand, because it goes against what pretty much all the other countries are working for.

Jones defended the country's bottom trawling practices against criticism by Greenpeace.

Jones said bottom trawling takes place in a tiny area that is less than one percent of the 56 million square kilometers of sea managed by the Organization.

FRENCH POLYNESIA DRUG HAUL

French authorities have seized a third major cocaine shipment near French Polynesia, bringing the total amount intercepted since the beginning of the year to 11.5 tons.

Authorities seized the 2.4-ton drug shipment on Thursday from a vessel during a joint operation with the United States.

"The inspection carried out on board … led to the discovery of 100 bales of cocaine," the High Commission of French Polynesia said in a statement.

The seizure was the third of its kind in the past month, after French armed forces intercepted 4.24 tons of cocaine on February 2 and 4.87 tons of the drug from the Australia-bound vessel MV Raider on January 16.

Combined, the drugs seized in the three operations have an estimated market value of about $2.4 billion.

Separately, Fiji Police last month seized 2.64 tons of cocaine worth an estimated $780 million during an operation in the north-west of the country's largest island Viti Levu.

As with the first two seizures, French authorities destroyed the cargo intercepted last week at sea and allowed the vessel to continue to its destination.

The latest seizure follows the recent discovery of a suspected semi-submersible vessel carrying drugs - or "narco sub" - on a small atoll in Marshall Islands, 5000 kilometres north-west of French Polynesia.

FIJI'S EX-PM CHARGED WITH INCITING MUTINY

Fiji police have charged former Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama and former Police Commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho with inciting mutiny.

The state broadcaster reports they are being held at the Totogo Police Station in Suva, where they remained overnight before appearing in court today.

Earlier, the Acting Police Commissioner Mesake Waqa said the two were questioned by detectives on Wednesday at the Criminal Investigations Department.

The questioning was understood to be in relation to the mobilisation of Fiji's army after general elections in December 2022.

At the time, Qiliho had issued a statement saying police needed military help to maintain law and order, amid growing concerns of racial tension.

TONGA TYPHOID FEVER

The Ministry of Health in Tonga says it has contained the spread of typhoid fever.

Cases in Tonga still stand at three.

At a press conference on Friday, the Ministry of Health said they will continue work to stop the spread.

Restrictions remain in place in the village of Hofoa, where food sharing - including at events like weddings - is banned until March 27.

PACIFIC VACCINATION PROGRAM

An Australian-led research found that a 10-year vaccination program against rotavirus, human papillomavirus (HPV) and pneumococcal disease could save over 1000 lives across Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

But this would require each of these countries to increase their immunization budgets.

Dr Fiona Russell told Pacific Waves that donors such as the Asian Development Bank, Rotary International and UNICEF have stepped in.

"The Asian Development Bank was able to support the up-front costs as well as the vaccine costs over five years," she said.

"But after five years a country will have to pay fully themselves."

VANUATU EARTHQUAKE

Vanuatu's Port Olry was shaken by a 6.4 magnitude earthquake on Saturday afternoon.

The US Geological Survey reported it was 53 kilometers west-north-west of Port Olry, and 10 kilometers deep.

A staff member at a beachfront resort in Port Olry, Angelic Frank, said the quake was "very big" and seemed to last for about a minute.

She said plates and cutlery rattled for quite a long time but nothing fell to the ground.

She told the AFP there was no apparent damage in her immediate area.

NEW ZEALAND VISAS

Samoa's High Commissioner to New Zealand, Afamasanga Toleafoa, says the Samoa government fully supports visas on arrival to New Zealand.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has received a petition calling for visas on arrival for some Pacific Islanders.

Toleafoa said Samoa's prime minister specifically told the Commissioner's office to support this.

He told PMN people have split families and need to be able to travel freely.

The Commissioner rejected concerns raised by the New Zealand Government that it could lead to population loss in small island nations.

KIRIBATI DRINKING WATER

Kiribati has been added into a New Zealand-funded project improving access to safe drinking water.

The Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) says the initiative, worth around the US$12 million, now covers eight atoll and low-lying countries most at risk from drought, limited freshwater sources, and the growing impacts of climate change.

Many outer island communities within these nations depend almost entirely on rainwater or limited groundwater supplies.

PACIFIC ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Dame Teuila Percival has been elected as a Fellow of the Pacific Academy of Sciences.

Dame Teuila has worked with children in Tuvalu, Tokelau and Vanuatu, alongside her longstanding service to children in Samoa and New Zealand.

This has included research into the burden of childhood disease in Samoa and Tonga, clinical service during the 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa, and most recently support during the 2025 dengue outbreak.

(Source: RNZ Pacific)