Marshall Islands steps toward the European market for tuna export agreement

BY GIFF JOHNSON
Marshall Islands Correspondent

MAJURO, Marshall Islands — “They could have said you are ‘nowhere near being ready,’ but they didn’t,” Marshall Islands fisheries Director Glen Joseph said in an interview on June 19. “Instead, they gave us five items to respond to.”

“They” is the European Union and the “what” is a detailed audit by a regulatory body of the European Union that Marshall Islands Marine Resource Authority staff faced last December. It was a big — and, according to Joseph, perhaps the most difficult — step in MIMRA’s effort to gain access to the European Union market for fish exports. The audit was focused on food safety and security.

The Marshall Islands has long coveted the idea of gaining access to the European Union, whose 27 member nations represent the largest seafood market in the world. With a major tuna transshipment operation in Majuro combined with several fish processing companies, Majuro is a hub of fisheries activity and Joseph and other leaders want to take this to the next level. 

MIMRA, through a joint venture with The Nature Conservancy, established Pacific Islands Tuna Provisions LLC as a tuna supply company. 

It managed to break into the tuna supply chain that is tightly controlled mainly by four corporations globally by gaining a contract to supply Walmart with tuna for its house brand of canned tuna, Great Value Tuna. Over the past three years, this has resulted in Pacific Islands Tuna Provisions supplying tuna that has produced more than 90 million cans of tuna for Walmart.

The Walmart contract has encouraged the Marshall Islands to seek the bigger EU market, despite the challenge of its strict import rules.

The next European Union review will focus on MIMRA’s program to monitor, identify and control illegal fishing, which is MIMRA’s strong suit. Because Joseph is confident that MIMRA has a world-class system of port management for tuna vessels and a monitoring, control and surveillance system that is arguably one of the best in the region, he expects MIMRA to easily pass the review of illegal fishing.

Food safety and handling — which involves the private companies such as Marshall Islands Fishing Venture, Pacific International Inc. and Pan Pacific Foods — is a more challenging area, he said. The fact that the audit did not reject MIMRA as being unready for EU certification and that it is now in the process of responding to some follow-up questions shows that MIMRA has passed a major hurdle in moving the process forward, he said.

“Once we are accredited (for exporting to the 27 EU countries), we will be qualified to access the EU market and then we will negotiate a trade pact with the EU,” Joseph said. 

What’s the point of all this effort that has taken MIMRA over six years of work and hundreds of thousands of dollars of investment to get to this point?

“In five years, I imagine we will have trade arrangements with the European Union, Australia, New Zealand, the United States and others,” Joseph said. “It means increasing opportunities for our people. In the absence of opportunities, people may decide where they prefer to live by migrating. (Our aim with EU access) is to open the door to more jobs here. Fisheries can be the catalyst for trade, for transportation, for engagement at the regional and global levels.”

He said EU access is also likely to attract partners wanting to invest in infrastructure and business developments that support economic growth in the Marshall Islands.

Right now, only four Pacific nations are accredited for fish exports to the EU: Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Solomon Islands and Kiribati.

Joseph is confident that after more than 10 years of planning and action to meet EU standards, the Marshall Islands will soon become the fifth Pacific country to gain access to the EU market. mbj