Hawaii FEP - Western Pacific Fishery Council

British colony, which is now a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. The Solomon Islandsare made up of smaller groups of islands such as the New Georgia Islands, the Florida Islands,the Russell Islands, and the Santa Cruz Islands. Approximately 1,500 miles separate the westernand eastern island groups of the Solomon Islands.New Guinea is the world’s second largest island and is thought to have separated from Australiaaround 5000 BC. New Guinea is split between two nations: Indonesia (west) and Papua NewGuinea (east). Papua New Guinea (~178,700 square miles) is an independent nation that alsogoverns several hundred small islands within several groups. These groups include the BismarckArchipelago and the Louisiade Islands, which are located north of New Guinea, and TobriandIslands, which are southeast of New Guinea. Most of the islands within the Bismarck andLousiade groups are volcanic in origin, whereas the Tobriand Islands are primarily coral atolls.The Maluku Islands (east of New Guinea) and the Torres Strait Islands (between Australia andNew Guniea) are also classified as part of Melanesia. Both of these island groups are volcanic inorigin. The Maluku Islands are under Indonesia’s governance, while the Torres Strait Islands aregoverned by Australia.The Vanuatu Islands (~4,700 square miles) make up an archipelago that is located to thesoutheast of the Solomon Islands. There are 83 islands in the approximately 500-mile longVanuatu chain, most of which are volcanic in origin. Before becoming an independent nation in1980 (Republic of Vanuatu), the Vanuatu Islands were colonies of both France and Great Britain,and known as New Hebrides.3.2.12.3 PolynesiaPolynesia is composed of several archipelagos and island groups including (a) New Zealand andassociated islands, (b) Tonga, (c) Samoa Islands, (d) Tuvalu, (e) Tokelau, (f) Cook Islands, (g)Territory of French Polynesia , (h) Pitcairn Islands (i) Easter Island, and (h) Hawaii.New Zealand (~103,470 square miles) is composed of two large islands, North Island and SouthIsland, and several small island groups and islands. North Island (~44,035 square miles) andSouth Island (~58,200 square miles) extend for nearly 1,000 miles on a northeast–southwest axisand have a maximum width of 450 miles. The other small island groups within the former Britishcolony include the Chatham Islands and the Kermadec Islands. The Chatham Islands are a groupof ten volcanic islands located 800 kilometers east of South Island. The four emergent islands ofthe Kermadec Islands are located 1,000 kilometers northeast of North Island and are part of alarger island arc with numerous subsurface volcanoes. The Kermadec Islands are known to be anactive volcanic area where the Pacific Plate subducts under the Indo-Australian Plate.The islands of Tonga (~290 square miles) are located 450 miles east of Fiji and consist of 169islands of volcanic and raised limestone origin. The largest island, Tongatapu (~260 squaremiles), is home to two thirds of Tonga’s population (~106,000). The people of Tonga aregoverned under a hereditary constitutional monarchy.The Samoa archipelago is located northeast of Tonga and consists of seven major volcanicislands, several small islets, and two coral atolls. The largest islands in this chain are Upolu47