Tuna transshipments continued at a slow pace in September. But the 14 conducted last month pushed the annual total to date over 200 — the second year in a row showing a rebound from the Covid-impacted 2020, when transshipments fell from over 400 a year to 175.
With the 14 in September, Majuro has now seen an 202 transshipments through the first nine months. This is a monthly average of 22, well down from the 35 a month during pre-Covid times and even down substantially from the first four months of this year when Majuro averaged 34 per month.
MIMRA reported that Nauru-flagged purse seiners accounted for five of last month’s transshipments, while Marshall Islands vessels had four. Taiwan fishing boats transshipped three times, and FSM vessels twice.
Fisheries officials say that one reason for the decline in use of Majuro for transshipments is that for over a year, tuna schools have been located largely in the vicinity of Papua New Guinea, which has been a center of transshipment activity because of its proximity to the fishing grounds.
The September transshipment total included one tuna unloading at dock side, 10 transshipments to carrier vessels in the lagoon, and three where the purse seiners split their catches between carrier vessels and shoreside unloading into freezer containers for export by container ship.
The approximately 8,600 tons of tuna transshipped last month have a value of $13.7 million based on world market tuna price in Bangkok for September of $1,600 per ton.
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