Marshall Islands highlights fisheries careers on World Tuna Day

17 May 2024, Majuro - World Tuna Day was celebrated on the Marshall Islands with a Fisheries Career Day focused on engaging youth in the country’s tuna industry supported by the Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority (MIMRA) in partnership with the global fish value chain development programme FISH4ACP. 

“Tuna resources are a blessing for the Marshall Islands and the people of the Pacific,” said Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine opening World Tuna Day celebrations on 2 May 2024. She added: “This is the direct link between our people and the oceans that surrounds us – it binds and connects our heritage, culture and traditions with the ocean and its resources.” 

The Fisheries Career Day enabled students to tour booths from all the major employers in the tuna industry on Majuro, capital of the Marshall Islands. This offered them the opportunity to learn of the range of jobs and career paths in the industry directly from those working in tuna processing.  

“There are opportunities for Marshallese to work in fisheries,” said Gene Muller, General Manager of Pacific Island Tuna Provisions, which is involved in supplying tuna to the American retail giant Walmart. “It’s important to participate in this work because it’s one of the main aspects of our economy.” 

Since the early 2010s, Majuro has become the world’s busiest tuna transshipment port in the world, with hundreds of purse seiners transshipping their catches to carrier vessels in Majuro’s lagoon.  

MIMRA and FISH4ACP, an initiative of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) implemented by FAO with funding from the European Union (EU) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), aim to increase the volume of tuna that is landed dockside for shipment in freezer containers — which is currently under five percent of the total tonnage now moving through Majuro annually. 

Sergio Bolasina, FISH4ACP’s International Consultant in the Marshall Islands, explained that MIMRA and FISH4ACP have brought together key stakeholders of the Marshallese tuna sector in the platform MIFISH to work on increasing the number of jobs on shore in the containerization and processing of tuna.  

Students from Majuro Middle School and the Life Skills Academy offered their input about the fishing industry through a dialogue with FISH4ACP. 

In response to the question what opportunities would help them to work in tuna fishing, the students stated that worker salaries should be increased along with outreach to the schools and community for better understanding, as well as training and advertising.  

Asked about things that would prevent them from working in the fishing industry, the students shared concerns about the possibility of their safety if ships were to sink, seasickness while at sea, fear of the ocean and its creatures, being covered with the smell of fish, and embarrassment over comments and judgments from people within the community. 

FISH4ACP is currently engaged in an awareness raising campaign on the Marshall Islands to change the perception of the industry and demonstrate the many opportunities, including numerous shore-based jobs.