Tuna, fragile gold of the Marshall Islands

2024-03-05 15:56:53

In this episode of Ocean, we head to the Marshall Islands, in the heart of the Pacific, and stronghold of world tuna production. If local authorities ensure that sustainable fishing is respected, global warming might threaten this balance.

In this issue ofOceanwe are in the Marshall Islands, a pocket republic in the heart of the Pacific, located halfway between Australia and Hawaii, and made up of 98% water.

It is from this region, the central and western Pacific, that half of the tuna consumed in the world comes.

This makes the Majuro atoll, where the capital of the archipelago is located, “the” stronghold of tuna transshipment on a global scale.

The stakes are high: if tuna stocks were exhausted, the Marshall Islands and their Pacific neighbors would lose the vital natural resource on which their current development is based, but also the hope for a better future.

“Here in the Marshall Islands, tuna is much more than just a fish,” explains our reporter, Denis Loctier. “It is a keystone of the local economy and way of life. But today, the small island countries of Oceania are faced with a major question: what is the future of tuna and the people of the Pacific people who depend on it?

A seiner vessel has been roaming the sea for a month to fish for tuna. Now anchored within the atoll, it transfers the catch to a transporter, which will transport it to a cannery abroad. Fisheries authorities monitor the entire process.

“We will assign an observer to each vessel,” says Stephen Domenden, head of transhipment and fisheries inspection (MIMRA). “So, during transshipment, they will be able to monitor the activity of the vessel and check the tonnage on board. All tuna vessels are 100% monitored. So, when we board the vessel, we see with the observer if everything is fine, if the papers and everything on board are in order.”

This strict monitoring helps establish sustainable fishing, by preventing vessels from catching more tuna than their license allows.

A difficult task for a small island state, made possible thanks to new technologies. The Majuro monitoring center tracks each fishing vessel and receives catch records electronically before transshipment even begins.

“For us it is of course a fundamental livelihood, an economic activity,” said Glen Joseph, director of the Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority, “but it is also part of our traditions and our culture. This is our garden. You have seen what makes up the Marshall Islands: very few resources from the land, but a lot from the ocean. It is therefore essential to manage them, to make them sustainable, and to maintain at a level so that stocks are sufficient.

This immense fishing zone in the western and central Pacific, which covers a fifth of the earth’s surface, is managed more sustainably than any other fishing zone in the world.

A success linked to the collection of data carried out by fishing vessels and the carrying out of scientific missions, such as tuna tagging campaigns.

The Marshall Islands and eight neighboring countries have agreed to manage their fishing zones collective way. Enough to limit the economic uncertainty linked to the migration of tuna from their territorial waters, and help these small states to regain control of their natural resource.

“In the past, there were no limits,” laments Glen Joseph. “You paid for your access, you came to fish, and whether you caught one, a thousand or a million fish, you might leave. But by imposing a limit, suddenly the responsibility falls on the fishermen; they have to manage themselves within the quota that we have imposed. And this allows us to increase public revenue and finance the construction of roads, hospitals and schools, as well as the creation of jobs and the economic development of the islands.”

Fishing access rights represent half of public revenue in the Marshall Islands, 70% for the Kiribati Islands, and 80% for the Tokelau archipelago.

But on land, transhipment brings little added value, which has pushed the Marshall Islands to invest in new activities. Part of the tuna is pre-processed in Majuro before being shipped to canneries.

Longliners unload massive chilled tuna here. This is the freshest, sashimi-quality fish, processed for same-day air shipping to the United States, Canada and Japan.

At the Marshall Islands Fishing Venture factory, each fish is graded based on size and quality, with premium tuna cut into loins. A computer system connects each piece of fish to its fishing vessel. Fish cutting, which requires speed and precision, employs both locals and foreign workers from the Philippines, China and other countries.

“We live from the sea,” says factory employee Tommy Abon. “This is where we catch fish, and this is our life, this is all we have!”

The Marshall Islands are part of the project FISH4ACP, funded by the EU, which contributes to improving each stage of the tuna production/valorization chain. The sector has set itself the objective of meeting the standards required to enter the European market, and thus compensate for the instability of fish prices in their region.

“Right now, prices are going down, they are very low in the region,” says Lin Huihe, general manager of Marshall Islands Fishing Venture. “So we need more markets, like the European market.”

Small island states in the Pacific have worked hard to maintain the health of tuna stocks, which are their main source of income. But their efforts may be undone by a factor beyond their control: the long-term effects of global warming.

Although they contribute almost nothing to global greenhouse gas emissions, Pacific Islanders are highly vulnerable to the effects of global warming. Rising sea levels accelerate coastal erosion and cause flooding, and extreme weather events are becoming more frequent.

Underwater, marine life is also suffering. Coral reefs tend to bleach in waters that are too warm, a situation harmful to marine ecosystems. Also, the Marshall Islands establishes protected areas to help local species adapt and survive. Because climate change raises fears of a forced migration of tuna, abandoning national waters for the high seas, where uncontrolled fishing would offer no advantage to island countries.

“Under the effect of global warming, tuna may end up migrating,” notes Bryant J. Zebedy, manager of the Marshall Islands protected areas network, “and at that point there will be fewer opportunities for tuna production , and we hope that will not be the case.

If the scenario of high greenhouse gas emissions occurs, tuna catches in Pacific island countries might fall by 20% by 2050, which would pose a threat to public revenues.

“It would obviously be catastrophic,” fears Glen Joseph. “We are building on the hard work we have done so far to reach the current level of profits, but we fear that the impact of global warming might be devastating or even wipe out everything.”

For the inhabitants of these Pacific islands, the ocean is their garden, and it is the health of this space, today, which determines their lives tomorrow.

“We are doing everything possible so that these people can live, even if that horizon is distant, in ten, twenty or fifty years, thanks to their resources as Marshallese,” concludes Bryant J. Zebedy.

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