In this episode of Ocean we head to the Marshall Islands, in the heart of the Pacific and the hotbed of global tuna production. If local authorities ensure that sustainable fishing is respected, global warming could threaten this balance.
In this edition of Ocean we find ourselves in the Marshall Islands, a small republic in the heart of the Pacific, halfway between Australia and Hawaii and made up of 98% water.
Half of the tuna consumed worldwide comes from this region, the central and western Pacific.
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 depleted, the Marshall Islands and its Pacific neighbors would lose the vital natural resources 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 cornerstone of the local economy and way of life. But today, the small island nations of Oceania face a big question: What is the future of tuna and the people of the Pacific who depend on it?”
A seiner has been out at sea for a month to catch tuna. Now it lies anchored in the atoll and hands the catch to a transporter that transports it to a cannery abroad. Fisheries authorities monitor the entire process.
“We will assign an observer to each vessel,” says Stephen Domenden, head of the Transshipment and Fisheries Inspectorate (MIMRA). “This allows them to monitor the activity of the vessel during transshipment and check the tonnage on board. All tuna vessels are 100% monitored. So when we board the ship, we check with the observer if everything is okay. 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, of course, it is 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 defines the Marshall Islands: very few resources from land, but many from sea. It is therefore important to manage them, make them sustainable and maintain them at a level that supplies are sufficient.
This vast western and central Pacific fishing area, covering one-fifth of the Earth's surface, is managed more sustainably than any other fishing area in the world.
A success linked to the data collection carried out by fishing vessels and the implementation of scientific missions such as tuna marking campaigns.
The Marshall Islands and eight neighboring countries have agreed to jointly manage their fishing zones. Enough to limit the economic uncertainty associated with the exodus of tuna from their territorial waters and help these small states regain control of their natural resources.
“There used to be no boundaries,” laments Glen Joseph. “You paid for your access, you came to fish, and whether you caught one, a thousand or a million fish, you were free to go. But by setting a limit, the responsibility suddenly falls on the fishermen; they must manage themselves within the quota that we have imposed. And that allows us to increase public revenue and finance the construction of roads, hospitals and schools, as well as job creation and economic development on the islands.”
Fishing access rights account for half of public revenue in the Marshall Islands, 70% in the Kiribati Islands and 80% in the Tokelau Archipelago.
But transshipment adds little value on land, prompting the Marshall Islands to invest in new activities. Some of the tuna is pre-processed in Majuro before being shipped to canneries.
This is where longliners unload huge quantities of chilled tuna. This is the freshest sashimi-quality fish that is shipped the same day by air to the USA, Canada and Japan.
At the Marshall Islands Fishing Venture factory, each fish is sorted by size and quality, with premium tuna cut into sirloin pieces. A computer system connects each piece of fish to its fishing vessel. The butchering of fish, which requires speed and precision, involves both local and foreign workers from the Philippines, China and other countries.
“We live from the sea,” says factory employee Tommy Abon. “Here we catch fish, and this is our life, this is all we have!”
The Marshall Islands is part of the EU-funded FISH4ACP project, which is helping to improve every stage of the tuna production/value chain. The sector aims to meet the standards required to enter the European market and thus offset the instability of fish prices in its region.
“Right now prices are falling, they are very low in the region,” says Lin Huihe, managing director of Marshall Islands Fishing Venture. “So we need more markets, like the European market.”
Small island nations in the Pacific have worked hard to maintain the health of tuna stocks, which are their main source of income. But their efforts could be undermined by a factor beyond their control: the long-term effects of global warming.
Despite contributing almost nothing to global greenhouse gas emissions, Pacific Islanders are extremely vulnerable to the effects of global warming. Rising sea levels are accelerating coastal erosion and causing flooding, and extreme weather events are increasing.
Marine life underwater is also suffering. Coral reefs are prone to bleaching in water that is too warm, a situation that is harmful to marine ecosystems. Protected areas are also being established in the Marshall Islands to help native species adapt and survive. Climate change is fueling fears of a forced migration of tuna and a shift of national waters to the high seas, where uncontrolled fishing would not benefit the island states.
“Under the influence of global warming, tuna may migrate,” notes Bryant J. Zebedy, manager of the Marshall Islands protected area network, “and then there will be fewer opportunities for tuna production, and we hope that this is not the case will be.” will be the case.
If the high greenhouse gas emissions scenario occurs, tuna catches in Pacific island nations could decline by 20% by 2050, posing a threat to government revenues.
“It would of course be catastrophic,” fears Glen Joseph. “We are building on the hard work we have done so far to reach current profit levels, but we fear that the effects of global warming could be devastating or even wipe out everything.”
For the inhabitants of these Pacific islands, the sea is their garden, and it is the health of this space today that determines their lives tomorrow.
“We are doing everything possible to ensure that these people, thanks to their resources, can live as Marshallese in ten, twenty or fifty years, even if that horizon is still far away,” concludes Bryant J. Zebedy.