The Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority operates 100 percent coverage of tuna transshipment operations in Majuro lagoon with its Fisheries Enforcement staff making dozens of visits to vessels each month to monitor their operations. Photo: Francisco Blaha
Fisheries authorities and tuna processors in the Marshall Islands are anxiously awaiting the results of a recent European Union (EU) audit of the country's readiness to meet strict export requirements for fish products to the 27 EU member nations.
For the past six years, the Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority has worked painstakingly to establish a "Competent Authority" required by the EU to monitor fish exports, train its staff in laboratory work, fisheries monitoring and enforcement, and pushed industry to step up facilities and operations to meet international food handling standards.
If the EU certifies the Marshall Islands as a qualified exporter, it will open the world's largest seafood market to Marshall Islands tuna and other marine product exports.
MIMRA was anticipating an audit by the EU this year, after being told the EU was fully booked in 2025. But a last minute change resulted in the audit of MIMRA management operations in December.
The Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority headquarters in Majuro opened in 2019 and includes sophisticated monitoring, control and surveillance facilities Photo: Chewy Lin
MIMRA does not expect a quick response to that audit and as of this week, has received no report from the EU authorities, said MIMRA Director Glen Joseph.
"We are anxiously and patiently waiting a response from the EU," he said.
The two-week evaluation, which was done remotely, was "intense" for a team of four MIMRA staff focused on the EU compliance work and Forum Fisheries Agency technical advisors who have assisted MIMRA, he said.
The audit was the first step in a process toward certification. It will also lead to in-country inspections by EU authorities at a later date.
The big issues for the EU are prevention of illegal, unreported and unregulated tuna fishing, and hygienic and safe handling of food products.
For prevention of illegal fishing, "chain of custody is the key and MIMRA is ready (in this area)," he said.
Particularly since the opening of the fishery authority's new headquarters in 2019, with its state of the art monitoring and surveillance set up, MIMRA has integrated satellite surveillance with hands-on boardings of vessels and 100 percent monitoring of tuna transshipment operations in Majuro to operate an aggressive monitoring, control and surveillance operation.
Meanwhile, over the past two years, MIMRA has been conducting numerous food handling and hygienic workshops for tuna processing companies on Majuro to help them step up their standards, as well as ongoing spot checks of the several tuna processing facilities.
Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority director Glen Joseph, left, and Minister of Natural Resources and Commerce Tony Muller head the fisheries sector in the Marshall Islands. Photo: Giff Johnson
In the process of preparing for the EU audit, MIMRA has benefited greatly from the experience of South Pacific nations including Papua New Guinea and Fiji that are certified by the European Union for marine products exports, Joseph said.
"This is why Forum Fisheries Agency support was critical for us because FFA works with PNG and Fiji and others that are EU-certified," he said.
Joseph said MIMRA has worked to avoid the pitfall of a "yellow card" that some other islands attempting to navigate EU requirements have experienced.
A yellow card is a EU system for identifying non-compliance and it can require numerous remedial actions to change that status.
The various fisheries initiatives that MIMRA has engaged in - including the recent opening of its new annex facility that includes a state of the art laboratory, one of the key requirements for EU certification - and its partnership with EU and World Bank supported fisheries work "reinforces the position that we're ready (for EU certification)," Joseph said.
