Crew work the fish in the hold of the purse seiner Mathawmarfach during a transshipment operation in Majuro lagoon in 2024. The vessel carries the FSM flag. Photo: Hilary Hosia
Majuro has experienced its worst year for tuna transshipment in more than 10 years.
Statistics show that there were 160 tuna transshipments in 2024, according to data provided by the Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority, MIMRA.
This is below even the Covid-slowed year 2020, when only 175 transshipments were conducted in Majuro, largely due to Covid ship entry restrictions.
From 2014 to 2023, Majuro average 373 transshipments per year. This included a high of 504 in 2015 and the low of 175 in 2020. Since 2020, the transshipments rebounded into the mid-to-high-200s.
But in 2024, the numbers crashed, largely due to tuna schools being located in the southwest Pacific, according to fisheries authorities. When tuna fishing is focused in the area south of Nauru toward Papua New Guinea, purse seiners will choose to transship their tuna tonnage at ports closer to the fishing grounds.
In addition, both Kosrae and Pohnpei, in the Federated States of Micronesia, have developed their transshipment services to bring business to those islands.
Transshipment started out strong, with the first two months of 2024 showing 59 transshipments. But the next five months, the numbers of purse seiners using Majuro bottomed out to single digits per month. A modest rebound trend of 13 and 17 in August and September, respectively, didn't hold as only five transshipped in October. The last two months of the year got Majuro back to double digits each month, with 23 and 16, respectively, for November and December.
The 2023 transshipment total was 294 or an average of 25 per month, nearly double the level of 13 per month last year.
The 160 transshipments accounted for a preliminary total of 115,708 metric tons of tuna moving through Majuro last year. This is an average of 723 metric tons per vessel, which is lower than the past three years. The all-time record for average tuna tonnage per purse seiner transshipment was established in 2022 with an average of 851 metric tons per vessel.
The preliminary tonnage breakdown in metric tons: Skipjack 109,299, yellowfin 4,556, and bigeye 1,853, according to date provided by MIMRA's Oceanic Division.
MIMRA fisheries enforcement personnel and fisheries observers provide virtually 100 percent monitoring of every transshipment that takes place in Majuro.
Taiwan purse seiners were the top tuna transshipment vessels in 2024, according to the Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority's Oceanic Division. Of the 160 transshipments for the year, Taiwan-flagged vessels accounted for 61, or 38 percent.
The next highest transshipment number was Marshall Islands-flagged vessels that used Majuro to transship tuna 36 times for 23 percent of the total. Nauru vessels were next with 29 and FSM purse seiners followed with 26 for the year.
China-flagged vessels had five and Tuvalu's purse seiner had three to round out the 160 total.
The vessels transshipped their tuna tonnage three different ways.
A total of 123 transshipped to carrier vessels anchored in the lagoon. Another 14 vessels split their tonnage between unloading at dock side with transshipping to carrier vessels in the lagoon. Finally 23 purse seiners unloaded their tuna catch at dock side.
MIMRA has been focused on increasing the dockside unloading of tuna to create more jobs onshore and also to support storage and shipment of frozen tuna in freezer containers that are shipped on container vessels to ports with tuna canneries.
