"Give us Yap! Give us Yap!
"The Yanks have put it
"The Yanks have put it
"The Yanks have put it
On the map."
source from "Yap for Yappers," Nation, 109 (September 6, 1919)
Also see
"The Washington Conference and After: A Historical Survey" (Ichihashi, Yamato. 1928)
It is my pleasure to talk about Yap to our US friends.
One of the reasons why Japan and US fought was Yap.
Because they had relay for the submarine cable which connected the US to Asia.
When US hosted Washington Conference in 1921, one of reasons was "Yap",
As the result of conference Japan and US agreed:
"Treaty between Japan and the United States of America concerning the Island of Yap and other Mandated Islands situated in the Pacific Ocean and lying North of the Equator" singled at Washington, February 11, 1922.
I assumed that after the satellite development after the WWII, the US did not need Yap anymore for the submarine cable connection.
However, in 1964 the USCG established Loran Station in Yap.
See
http://www.loran-history.info/yap/Yap.htm
In 1987, the operation of Loran Station ceased and the Pacific Missionary Aviation ran "Micronesian Maritime and Fisheries Academy" at same venue.
This could be the origin of FSM FISHERIES AND MARITIME INSTITUTE (FMI) which was established in 1999 with the agreement between the FSM Government and the College of Micronesia. For the funding.
see
Japanese fisheries Agency provided tremendous support through JICA from 2000-2003 with about 4MUSD for its capacity building.
JICA did extend this support scheme until 2006 with about 2 MUSD.
http://www2.jica.go.jp/en/evaluation/pdf/2008_0601103_4.pdf
According to an evaluation report (in Japanese), this project aimed to train local fisherman, but local fishing industries was closed. So as a result the trained personnel obtained jobs in different areas of maritime work, such as "marine law enforcement" and commercial shipping.
http://www2.jica.go.jp/ja/evaluation/pdf/2008_0602769_4_f.pdf
So far PICs maritime personnel has the opportunity to be trained in Tasmania, Australia. This is where the Australian Maritime College (AMC) is located.
However there are some negative evaluations such as - travel to Tasmania costs too much for both Aust and PICs, plus there are cultural pressure to islands people. In sending personnel to Tasmania it has had major impacts to the islands limited human capacity.
An alternative scheme should be introduced that utilizes local maritime institutes.
Currently, there are 11 maritime schools in the Pacific.
Cook Islands Maritime Training Centre
FSM Fisheries and Maritime Institute
Fiji National University (School of Maritime and Fisheries)
Kiribati Marine Training Centre
Marshall Islands Nautical Training Centre
National University of Samoa (School of Maritime)
Solomon Islands College of Higher Education (School of Marine and Fisheries Studies)
Tonga Maritime Polytechnic Institute
Tuvalu Maritime Training Centre
Vanuatu Maritime College
Yap in also in the middle of a controversial issue on Chinese development. Guam-Yap-Palau line is of course Second Islands Chain which China's analysis of Pacific Ocean security.
http://www.eastwestcenter.org/publications/tourism-in-yap-and-micronesia-will-china-run-the-show
