Blue boats plague territory

NEW CALEDONIA – Maritime authorities in New Caledonia say 70 so-called “blue boats” from Vietnam have been identified fishing illegally for beche-de-mer in the past nine months.

The commander of the French navy in the territory, Jean-Louis Fournier, said 55 vessels had been warned and five had been detained.

Five captains were now serving eight to 10 months in a New Caledonian jail for illegal fishing and 30 fishermen have been flown home.

The commander said those on board the “blue boats” had no identification papers and no money but were determined to dive for beche-de-mer as part of well-organised fleets.

He said the boats took weeks to get from Vietnam to New Caledonia’s waters, where they had engaged in fights with local fishermen.

Beche-de-mer is dried and sells for more than US$2000 a kilogram as it is sought after in China for soup.

Four weeks stuck in traffic

NEW ZEALAND – Aucklanders who drive to work are spending an extra 172 hours, or four working weeks, stuck in traffic every year, new data from GPS technology company TomTom shows.

That was well up from 2014, when Aucklanders were spending an extra 95 hours a year stuck in traffic. The company’s latest traffic index shows congestion in Auckland added 45 minutes to a trip that would usually take an hour in free-flowing conditions.

More than half of Aucklanders were opting not to drive their car into the city during the morning rush, the company said.

Instead, they were taking public transport, walking or cycling.

The data showed Auckland was New Zealand’s most congested city and was ranked 47th globally. Its traffic was worse than Hong Kong, which has a population of 7.2 million.

Elsewhere, traffic also worsened in the capital, where Wellingtonians added an extra 43 minutes to their drive times.

Congestion in Christchurch has increased the least, but drivers still faced an extra 29 minutes’ travel time each day.