Pacific islands have claim on ocean

EIGHT Pacific island nations have a "credible claim" to an extra 580,000 square miles of ocean, giving them exclusive rights to potential oil, gas and biological resources, says a regional organisation.

Fiji, Cook Islands, Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, Tonga and Papua New Guinea have until May 2009 to apply to the United Nations to extend their exclusive territorial and economic zones.

The intergovernmental Pacific Islands Applied Geoscience Commission is staging a meeting of the eight island states in Fiji this week to assist them in preparing their applications.