Standing alone

Opinion

THE REGION is again awash with worries. The assassination of Malipu Balakau in Papua New Guinea and the Bougainville crisis are drawing the country deeper into trouble. Fiji is still striving to find a new constitution. The French are continuing nuclear testing in French Polynesia. The tiny atolls are facing being swamped by rising seas. And a drug haul points to a new heroin route through Vanuatu. But none of these is grabbing as much attention as the attempt to stop the use of driftnets in the rich South Pacific albacore fisheries.

The war against the “wall of death”, as driftnets are now commonly known, is uniting the Pacific Island states like never before. Their fear is genuine; a collapse of fisheries in the south will deprive their canneries of stock and deny struggling economies much-needed foreign revenue.

But as they unite against Japan and Taiwan they also expose the weak ness of the small states to stand alone at a time of over-dependence on foreign economic aid. Japan and Taiwan are big aid donors to the region. Japan, in particular, has acquired a powerful influence. What they failed to conquer in World War Two they now buy with aid. This is why the struggle to remove Asian driftnetters from the South Pacific will be difficult.

It can be argued that Japan and Taiwan are using economic aid as leverage in their stand against a ban on driftnets. But it would be wrong to condemn individual island nations, some of which are among the poorest in the world, when they accept development aid funds from Taiwan and Japan. Albacore tuna is one thing. Financing development in countries where money is scarce, is another.

The Asians view the “wall of death” saga as an overreaction based on no concrete evidence from an indepth study of the southern fisheries.

They want such a study made, the result of which can form the framework on an agreement on driftnets. This is one of the things that will be considered at the South Pacific Forum meeting in Tarawa this month. The politicians in that meeting might draw up an agreement for a regional ban on driftnetters from the region’s Economic Zones. There is little else they can do. Most in the Forum meeting know their coun tries have other worries. Back home they will be looking for money to fund essential development projects. When the time comes to find that money, it is most likely Japan and Taiwan will be the ones signing the

cheques.