A “game-changing” tuna loader arrived in Majuro and is now set up and ready for operations at the Pacific International Inc. dock. The equipment is specially designed to unload tuna from a purse seiner and funnel it through an extended conveyor belt into a freezer container at dock side. The equipment is expected to cut […]
GIFF JOHNSON A deep sea mapping project will focus on the Marshall Islands as one of several islands in the region to have their ocean floors mapped later this year. The Ocean Exploration Trust is partnering with the Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority on the upcoming visit of its vessel Nautilus. In addition to partnering […]
GIFF JOHNSON For decades, the Marshall Islands and other Pacific Islands struggled with how to generate more revenue from the commercial tuna industry. Now, a three-nation agreement signed Monday in Honiara, Solomon Islands, could be the latest game-changer for Pacific fisheries cooperation. Beginning in the 1980s, island nations for the first time began selling licenses […]
The RMI’s first national marine sanctuary was officially established Tuesday evening at a signing ceremony at the International Conference Center. President Hilda C. Heine joined with Iroojlaplap Boklon Zackious, Minister of Natural Resources and Commerce Tony Muller, Utrok Nitijela Member Hiroshi Yamamura, and Utrok Mayor Tobin Kaiko in signing documents to establish the RMI’s first […]
Marshall Islands Ambassador Doreen deBrum traveled to The Hague in The Netherlands last Friday to officially file the RMI’s written statement on climate change at the International Court of Justice. Ambassador deBrum also filed the Parties to the Nauru Office’s written statement at the request of the office based in Majuro. The Marshall Islands is […]
Two studies about the Marshall Islands by the global fish value chain development initiative FISH4ACP show that investing in cold storage facilities and tuna loading equipment can transform the Marshall Islands into a hub for tuna containerization, boosting economic growth and employment, while managing the environmental impact. “Tuna accounts for nearly all fisheries production and […]
Ways to expand the Marshall Islands and PNA members involvement in the multi-billion dollar tuna value chain was a key point of discussions during last week’s third Parties to the Nauru Agreement Leadership Summit. The meeting was held in Kiritimati Island, Kiribati. President David Kabua was among the heads of state participating along with Minister […]
The Micronesia Conservation Trust took a significant step toward bolstering climate resilience in the Northern Pacific Small Island Developing States with the signing of climate-related subsidiary agreements on last week. These agreements were linked with the Palau Protected Areas Network Fund and the Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority (MIMRA) to serve as executing entities for […]
GIFF JOHNSON The Forum Fisheries Committee — representing the 17 members of the Forum Fisheries Agency — met from Monday through Thursday this week at the Marshall Islands Resort’s Melele Room. While the meeting worked on budgets, policies and often mundane topics from the public’s point of view, every FFC meeting translates directly into the […]
GIFF JOHNSON MIMRA records show that tuna transshipment in Majuro rebounded following the disastrous first year of Covid in 2020, when transshipment plummeted by 60 percent compared to the year before. “Are they coming back?” MIMRA Director Glen Joseph asked rhetorically about the purse seine transshipment operations. “Yes, but a review of the data shows […]
