Majuro is the Pacific's busiest transhipment port and the authority in charge of managing it, and the country has big plans for both.
The American purse seiner Raffaello off-loads tuna in Port Majuro Photo: RNZI GIff Johnson
Transhipment is where freight is transferred from one mode of transport to another. In the case of the Majuro, it's where tuna is moved from trawlers to freighters.
The Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority (MIMRA) is updating the country's shipping and tuna management strategies.
"Tuna is the number one driver of the local economy and it is important to revise the authority's management plans to cater to their regional and international obligations and the development of the vessel day scheme," MIMRA's director Glen Joseph said.
MIMRA's Oceanic Division is engaged in developing the new management plan with the assistant of two Fisheries New Zealand representatives.
Aimee Komugabe-Dixson, a Pacific Fisheries Advisor, and Hilary Ayrton, a Fisheries Analyst with the Highly Migratory Species Team, have been working since last week with MIMRA's team at the fisheries department's Majuro headquarters.
They've been meeting daily with Oceanic Division staff since 3 June to put the new plan together.
Dr Komugabe-Dixson made it clear that, "We don't write plans."
The tuna management plan now in preparation is being developed by MIMRA staff with advice and support of the Fisheries New Zealand team.
"We provide structure and guidance," she said, adding the aim is to "develop a plan that is useable."
The two visiting fisheries advisors are part of a program that works with government organisations to administer fisheries in Pacific island countries and territories.
Offshore fisheries advisor, Francisco Blaha, is based in Majuro working with MIMRA staff in tuna transhipment and other tuna-related matters, has also been assisting with the development of the new strategies.
The authority has big plans for the fishery and the port in Majuro, said Mr Blaha.
"The end game is to keep growing, to stay as the most efficient and contemporary fishing authority in the region.
"The director of MIMRA is a guy with a real vision. So, we have now a brand-new building that was made with funds from the country, which is a huge mental shift when normally everything is just provided and given to aid programs," he said.
World's busiest tuna transhipment port
Majuro has developed into the world's busiest tuna transhipment port, with 400-500 purse seine vessel transhipments annually.
In 2017, 423 purse seiners transhipped nearly 300,000 tons of tuna in Majuro that were delivered to off-shore canneries by tuna carrier vessels, according to MIMRA.
In addition, revenue generated from the tuna fishery has skyrocketed since 2010 under the management of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement's vessel day scheme.
Marshall Islands is one of nine islands that implements PNA's VDS to manage purse seine fishing in the region. Tuna revenue hovered around $US3 million annually in the early 2000s.
In 2017, a new record was set in Marshall Islands with over $US33 million generated from the commercial tuna industry.
During the past month, over 30 purse seiners and carrier vessels have been anchored in Majuro's lagoon awaiting transhipment as low world market prices and a glut of tuna in Bangkok have slowed the transhipment process.
A fisheries observer monitors tuna being off-loaded in Majuro Photo: AFP PHOTO / Hilary HOSIA