MAJURO — Japan government will fund a major fisheries stock assessment and management plan for a remote atoll in the Marshall Islands.
Japan Overseas Fishery Cooperation Foundation Vice President Matsuyoshi Moriya and Marshalls Transportation Minister Brenson Wase signed an agreement to provide a projected $2.3 million, or 300 million yen, for the three-year project.
The project stems from concern that locally based commercial fishing at Arno Atoll is depleting the reef fish supply available for subsistence use. In the late 1980s, Arno was selected as the first site in the Marshall Islands for a Japan-funded community-based commercial fishing operation. Japan funded a cold storage fish facility, with dock at Arno, boats, fishing gear and training for fishermen in fish handling. The project fed reef fish caught in Arno into the market of the capital atoll, Majuro-–just 13 miles away by boat.
Moriya said that of the many community-based commercial fishing operations that Japan has funded Pacific-wide, the Arno project is considered to be the most successful fishing project of its kind in the region.
Still, growing concerns of Arno residents prompted the Japanese government to address the impact of commercial demand for fish on lagoon and reef fish stocks. The OFCF last week sent a fisheries expert to Arno who concluded that there is some evidence of over-fishing at Arno, Moriya said. Residents report that after several years of local fishermen exploiting fish for “export” to Majuro, the size and quantity of reef fish declined.
The aim of the new project is to assess fishing stocks in and around Arno, and to establish an effective method of fishing management, he said.
