Photo: Giff Johnson.
The Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority (MIMRA) was singled out for praise by a new book that provides an overview of Pacific fisheries management.
The nearly 700-page book says MIMRA is one of the few fisheries departments in the island region that produces an annual report, which is essential for both promoting fisheries and being transparent in operations.
“Over the period 2001-2015 one of the most striking changes in relation to measuring fisheries benefits is the reduction in the amount of fisheries information that is readily available,” said Robert Gillett, a fisheries expert and the author of “Fisheries in the Economies of Pacific Island Countries and Territories.” It was published late last year by the Pacific Community (SPC).
“In the past, one of the most important tools for learning what was happening in a national fisheries sector was the annual report of the government fisheries agency,” Gillett continued. These reports provide an important level of transparency about fisheries developments in each country not only for fishery researchers but the general public as well as the many people in an island who have some link to fisheries.
Annual reports both promote the fisheries sector and “provide some degree of accountability of the fisheries agency.”
But, Gillett points out, “most fisheries agencies in the region do not currently produce a good annual report.”
He praised MIMRA for the quality of its annual reports. “In this respect,” he said, “the annual report of the Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority is exemplary.”
The book is available for download online in .pdf format.
Read more about this in the February 10, 2017 edition of the Marshall Islands Journal.