GIFF JOHNSON
The Marshall Islands goal to ramp up its domestic tuna industry led it to dispatch a team of fisheries agency managers and industry representatives for a study tour to the Republic of Seychelles.
At first glance an atoll nation in the western Pacific might seem to have little connection to an island group off the coast of Africa. Fisheries aspirations, however, are what connect the two.
The Seychelles government laid the political level groundwork in 2005 for developing its fisheries program. Since 2015, onshore tuna processing has taken off. It is this success that the Marshall Islands wanted to see firsthand.
The visit was organized through the FISH4ACP project to share Seychelles’ experience developing its tuna fisheries sector, port infrastructure, and successful public-private partnerships, with a view to identifying lessons and best practices transferable to the Marshall Islands’ own fisheries development and public-private partnership ambitions under the FISH4ACP Program.
Launched 2021, FAO FISH4ACP objective since inception has been to increase the value capture for the Marshall Islands from its tuna resource — from handling and storage to processing and export — while protecting fish stocks and supporting the establishment of a public-private partnership (PPP).
Seychelles was selected as the study destination for its decade-plus record of exemplary PPP development in multiple areas of the industry, aligned sector ambitions, and shared island-state experience and challenges.
FISH4ACP is an initiative of the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States aimed at making fisheries and aquaculture value chains in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific sustainable. The Marshall Islands is the only Pacific Island nation participating in FISH4ACP. It is implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations with funding from the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. The project has been supported locally by national partner the Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority.
“The Seychelles is a great example of an island developing its domestic fishing industry,” said Beau Bigler, the Oceanic Fisheries Chief for MIMRA. Bigler was one of nearly a dozen Marshall Islands officials to travel to the Seychelles. “Our aspiration is to increase domestic landings of tuna and shoreside industry development.”
It is the Seychelles world-leading fisheries management program, coupled with public-private partnerships for the sector, that led the Marshall Islands to tour the fisheries sector in the Seychelles at the end of July.
Bigler said the Marshall Islands averages landing 10,000 to 14,000 metric tons of tuna annually compared to the Seychelles, which handles up to 150,000 metric tons of tuna a year landed in port. Landing tuna increases job opportunities, expands processing options and increases tax revenues for government.
Located about 900 miles off the coast of East Africa, the Seychelles large commercial fishery accounts for about four percent of the country’s gross domestic product. In 2025, it generated over five billion Seychelles rupees ($360 million) in export earnings. In the Marshall Islands, the tuna fishery generated about $30 million, which an annual economic report issued by the Graduate School USA said amounted to 13 percent of GDP in 2024.
Both the Marshall Islands and the Seychelles have large-scale tuna transshipment operations that fuel domestic development opportunities.
The key to expansion of offloading and processing on shore, said Bigler, is public-private partnerships.
The Marshall Islands has some, but Seychelles has taken public-private partnerships to the next level, and it shows in the expansive domestic industry operating in the country. The visit to the Seychelles allowed Marshall Islands fisheries representatives to meet with government and private sector officials to gain insights on technical aspects of the public-private partnership agreements in play.
Through the FISH4ACP program, the Marshall Islands purchased a Star Loader that mechanizes tuna unloading from purse seiners into freezer containers at dockside, dramatically speeding the containerization process. While the Marshall Islands only recently began using mechanized tuna unloading equipment, Seychelles has been using similar equipment for years. “They have Star Loaders and also developed their own equipment (for off-loading tuna from vessels and loading reefers),” Bigler said.
Based on the success of the Star Loader delivered in 2025, the Marshall Islands is looking at purchasing a second loader to increase capacity for unloading tuna at dockside. A public-private partnership involving the fisheries authority, local industry, and donor agencies would be the most effective scheme for financing a new tuna loader, minimizing the risk for the private sector and optimizing the return on investment in a short period of time, Bigler believes.
The Seychelles visit provided briefings by government agencies and ministries involved in supporting the fishing industry, as well as tours of tuna industry operations. During the mid-July visit, the Marshall Islands delegation met with the Seychelles Fisheries Authority management team to learn about the development of Seychelles’ tuna industry. They also met with industry players who operate tuna unloading, processing and cold storage facilities
The group was led by Marshall Islands Natural Resources and Commerce Minister Tony Muller. The delegation included representatives from MIMRA, Majuro Atoll Local Government, the Marshall Islands Shipping Corporation, Pacific International Inc., and Pacific Island Tuna Provisions, a tuna supply company based in Majuro.
The FISH4ACP project, now coming to an end after five years, has focused on helping the Marshall Islands add value onshore from the tuna industry, while expanding exports to international markets.
An important outcome from the FISH4ACP project was establishment of a MIFISH group representing industry and government agencies to continue cooperation that the FISH4ACP project established.