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U.S. Territory relies heavily on federal funds for operations

By Fili Sagapolutele

PAGO PAGO, American Samoa (The Samoa News, March 1, 2013) – Gov. Lolo Matalasi Moliga is expected to announce soon his administration’s "mitigation plan" to address automatic federal budget cuts across the board that are expected to go into effect today, if the U.S. Congress fails to pass a federal budget to cover the rest of the current fiscal year up to Sept. 30.

Implementation of automatic cuts, or the co-called "sequester" for budget year 2013 is outlined in the Budget Control Act of 2011. As of late yesterday afternoon, all efforts in Congress to ward off the 2013 sequestration appear to have hit a brick wall in Congress, according to national media reports.

ASG gets a large chunk of federal funds for its operations, and this does not include the millions of dollars in federal grants, which partly fund some departments while others are fully funded by those grants....

Previous efforts merely shift pressure to different parts of Pacific

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (Radio New Zealand International, March 3, 2013) – The advisory committee for the United States Pacific territories’ regional fishery council wants to see one of the region’s major fisheries bodies adopt more stringent conservation measures.

Paul Dalzell is a senior scientist with the Western Pacific Regional Fishery Management Council and the staff support for the Scientific and Statistical Committee, which has met in Hawaii.

Mr Dalzell says American Samoa’s longline albacore industry is very important to neighbouring countries but is under increasing pressure to remain viable.

He says over recent years longline catches of South Pacific albacore have reached 90 percent of maximum yield.

"You’ve got nowhere to go but down, basically. There is a management measure in place from the West Central Pacific Fishery Commission which is not to increase fishing...

Momis says ABG ‘will never be told what to do by any outsider’

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (The National, March 4, 2013) – Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) President John Momis says Sam Kauona’s outburst in the media last week – in relation to Bougainville’s mining policy – is "completely misleading."

Kauona – a former Bougainville Revolutionary Army leader –claimed the current ABG policy on mining was written by "colonial administrators" and did not recognize the rights of customary landowners.

Momis, however, said his government was developing a new mining policy and claimed that the ABG cabinet alone decided on the policy.

He said he was a strong critic of colonial mining policies and laws ever since the late 1960s.

"Kauona should not think that an ABG government led by me could ever ignore Bougainvilleans’ concerns about mining. We will never be told what to do by any outsider...

64 new teachers needed to address increasing enrollments

By Dance Aoki

HAGÅTÑA, Guam (Pacific Daily News, March 5, 2013) – Guam’s Department of Education (DOE) is asking the Legislature for $3.6 million to hire 64 more teachers.

The education agency currently employs about 2,100 teachers to meet the needs of 31,000 students in Guam's public school system.

For some schools, hiring more teachers would help relieve crowded classrooms.

The funding is part of the department's budget request for fiscal 2014. Superintendent Jon Fernandez said the budget reflects the needs of the growing student population.

"The reality is that the enrollment numbers have been gradually climbing," he said.

Fernandez said that in 2005, enrollment in Guam's schools was 30,778 students, and in 2012 it was 31,824 students.

Crowded classrooms are a perennial problem for Guam's public school system, although schools in the north are harder hit with...