The new blackbirds? Vanuatu guestworkers in New Zealand

An agricultural guestworker scheme for Pacific island states began in New Zealand in 2007 to remedy domestic agricultural labour shortages. Vanuatu was one of the first countries to take advantage of the scheme. After a pilot venture in 2007 greater numbers of workers were recruited in 2008. In Tanna, the recruits, though mainly male, represented a cross‐section of the population. Their objectives were income generation for education fees, house building and eventually small business development. Early returnees acquired significant capital and met some of these objectives. The scheme has benefited both countries and the first generation of guestworkers.     

Sediment variability in offshore sampling areas

From two to four different sediment types were found in each of six offshore sampling areas in western Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. The size of the areas ranged from 7.7 km² to 64.6 km², and the average depths ranged from 36 m to 168 m. Sediments may thus vary widely within areas plotted as homogeneous on large‐scale (1:200 000) sediment charts.     

瓦努阿图周边海域长鳍金枪鱼渔场分布及其与表温关系

海表温(SST)是影响渔场的重要环境因子.根据2008年我国冰鲜金枪鱼延绳钓船在瓦努阿图周边海域的生产统计数据,结合卫星遥感获得的SST资料,分析了长鳍金枪鱼各月渔场时空分布及其与SST的关系.K-S检验表明,长鳍金枪鱼渔场形成与SST关系密切.     

Earthquake activity in the Southern Vanuatu arc recorded by the Texas digital OBS

We have reconfigured the Texas digital ocean bottom seismograph (OBS) to operate in a triggered mode and record regional earthquake signals. This paper reports the results of a deployment program designed to test these digital OBS, by moni toring earthquake activity in and near the trench in southern Vanuatu (formerly, the New Hebrides). We successfully recorded hundreds of earthquakes, including 133 located regional earth quakes recorded by three or more stations. We also report J-B residuals for 21 earthquakes reported and located by the ISC. Fourier analysis of seismograms from regional earthquakes suggest that the frequencies of spectral peaks at any station were nearly the same for large, small, nearby, and distant events. However, we obtained very disparate frequencies when we analyzed seismograms for the same earthquake recorded at different stations. The most plausible interpretation is that spectral peaks do not depend on the characteristics of the earthquake source, but instead on site characteristics, or, more specifically, on the coupling of the instrument to the seafloor. To record reliable spectral data, we need to overcome this problem.     

Policy implications of protected area discourse in the Pacific islands

The words taboo, conservation area, reserve, protected area, and marine protected area (MPA) are used to refer to the community-based closures of the Pacific islands. Diverse definition and interpretation have led to confusion and debate, particularly as the Pacific islands engage with international protected area policies and partners. This case study from the Republic of Vanuatu traces the introduction, evolution and contemporary implementation of protected area typology. Higher-level debates often center more on symbolism and post-colonial ideologies than on the operational specifics of closure regimes. Island communities, indifferent to ongoing national-level discussions, are continuously adapting closures to contemporary contexts, utilizing indigenous and non-indigenous terms to differentiate among them. Protected area policy in the Pacific islands could be improved by recognizing the diverse closure typology of the region and building on the discursive status quo that is emerging at the community level. Future policy will be enhanced if it embraces the inherent flexibility and heterogeneity of Pacific island custom and culture to manage natural resources.     

Intra- and extra-caldera volcaniclastic facies and geomorphic characteristics of a frequently active mafic island–arc volcano, Ambrym Island, Vanuatu

Ambrym is one of the most voluminous active volcanoes in the Melanesian arc. It consists of a 35 by 50 km island elongated east–west, parallel with an active fissure zone. The central part of Ambrym, about 800 m above sea level, contains a 12 kilometre-wide caldera, with two active intra-caldera cone-complexes, Marum and Benbow. These frequently erupting complexes provide large volumes of tephra (lapilli and ash) to fill the surrounding caldera and create an exceptionally large devegetated plateau “ash plain”, as well as sediment-choked fluvial systems leading outward from the summit caldera. Deposits from fall, subordinate base surge and small-volume pyroclastic (scoria) flows dominate the volcaniclastic sequences in near vent regions. Frequent and high-intensity rainfall results in rapid erosion of freshly deposited tephra, forming small-scale debris flow- and modified grain flow-dominated deposits. Box-shaped channel systems are initially deep and narrow on the upper flanks of the composite cones and are filled bank-to-bank with lapilli-dominated debris flow deposits. These units spill out into larger channel systems forming debris aprons of thousands of overlapping and anastomosing long, narrow lobes of poorly sorted lapilli-dominated deposits. These deposits are typically remobilised by hyperconcentrated flows, debris-rich stream flows and rare debris flows that pass down increasingly shallower and broader box-shaped valleys. Lenses and lags of fines and primary fall deposits occur interbedded between the dominantly tabular hyperconcentrated flow deposits of these reaches. Aeolian sedimentation forms elongated sand dunes flanking the western rim of the ash-plain. Outside the caldera, initially steep-sided immature box-canyons are formed again, conveying dominantly hyperconcentrated flow deposits. These gradually pass into broad channels on lesser gradients in coastal areas and terminate at the coast in the form of prograding fans of ash-dominated deposits. The extra-caldera deposits are typically better sorted and contain other bedding features characteristic of more dilute fluvial flows and transitional hyperconcentrated flows. These outer flank volcaniclastics fill valleys to modify restricted portions of the dominantly constructional landscape (lava flows, and satellite cones) of Ambrym. Apparent maturity of the volcanic system has resulted in the subsidence of the present summit caldera at a similar rate to its infill by volcaniclastic deposits.     

Conceptualising the Migration–Food Security Nexus: Lessons from Nepal and Vanuatu

In the past decade, international development practitioners have increasingly argued that migration improves the food security of households at origin, by providing the capital necessary for agricultural intensification or food purchase. These debates have occurred largely in isolation from a discussion of the values that underpin food production and consumption in the communities that migrants call home. We question the assumption that a shift from an agricultural-based economy to an economy based on remittances increases the ability of communities to secure access to food in the face of rapid economic and cultural change. In this paper, we present two independently conducted studies from Nepal and Vanuatu that investigate the impact of out-migration on local perceptions of agricultural and residential land and the meaning given to food security. Our data reveal that the value changes associated with large-scale out-migration have the potential to make the agricultural sector at origin more vulnerable, unproductive, unsustainable or unattractive, leaving a longer-term impact on food security. We offer some reflections on the implications of these findings for the structure of the migration–food security nexus.