MAJURO (Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority) – The story of how the Marshall Islands went from witnessing commercial fishing in the Pacific to operating the world’s busiest tuna transshipment port, two fish processing facilities, A shipyard repairing nets from purse seiners and a fleet of fishermen flying the local flag vessels is documented in a groundbreaking new book.

“Our Ocean’s Promise: From Aspirations to Inspirations – The Marshall Islands Fishing Story” is a 196-page overview of the Marshall Islands’ growing engagement in the tuna fishing value chain. The book documents how the Marshall Islands have benefited from purse seine revenues that have grown from around $ 4 million per year to over $ 30 million per year since 2010 thanks to the country’s participation in Parties to the Nauru Accord or the globally recognized management and conservation regime of the ANP that ensures sustainable fishing. as well as to considerably increase the share of the islands in tuna revenues.

“I have personally witnessed the transformation of the Marshall Islands fisheries through the collective efforts of the ANP group of countries that control most of the tuna caught in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean,” writes Dr Transform Aqorau, CEO founder of the PNA. in a preface to the new book. “As host of the ANP office, the Marshall Islands has been instrumental in promoting the ANP purse seine days program and has been a strong supporter of ANP initiatives. . “

Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority Director Glen Joseph conceived the idea for a book telling the story of commercial fishing in this central Pacific nation. A partnership with the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency provided the necessary support for work on the book which was researched and written by Giff Johnson, longtime editor of the Marshall Islands Journal, the weekly published in Majuro.

Joseph recognized the FFA for its key role in supporting MIMRA “to document our history in the region”.

As the book takes the reader on a journey that begins in the 1920s, it focuses on the period from the late 1970s – as the Marshall Islands gained their independence and began to engage in tuna fishing. as a sovereign nation – to the present day. . It provides an overview of MIMRA’s latest initiatives to participate at many levels of the tuna value chain, well beyond the limited role it once played as a license fee collector from deep-sea fishing nations.

“The ‘ocean landscape’ of 2021 has been unrecognizable since the 1970s, with many opportunities at the gates of MIMRA and the agency well prepared to seize those opportunities,” Johnson writes in Our Ocean’s Promise.

“Our interest dates back to our humble beginnings, and it is the promise of the ocean, which is our heritage, our culture, our food security, our economic opportunities and our road to global engagement,” Joseph says in a quote. of the new book. “All we aspire to is to manage our fishery sustainably and successfully. “

The book includes the first-ever detailed timeline of the Marshall Islands and regional fisheries developments that lists the many challenges and obstacles that this nation and other independent Pacific islands faced as they worked to develop sovereign control of the island. ‘First on their 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zones and more recently implementing the ANP Vessel Days Program to shift the paradigm from commercial fishing to rights-based management controlled by the Pacific Islands.

MIMRA will launch the new publication at an official book ceremony in Majuro on October 8. Marshall Islands President David Kabua is expected to present the launch event and FFA CEO Dr Manu Tupou-Roosen is expected to deliver a virtual message to the program. .

The book is published by Kindle Direct Publishing from Amazon and available at amazon.com