October 19, 2021 — Just how did a small nation in the middle of the Pacific Ocean become a major player in the fishing world?

Giff Johnson, editor of The Marshall Islands Journal, seeks an answer in his new book “Our Ocean’s Promise: From Aspirations to Inspirations.” It tracks the country’s fishery from its time under Japanese and American rule to now, as a nation with one of the busiest tuna transshipment ports in the world.

Johnson researched and wrote the book — which was formally launched on Oct. 8 — over the course of five months, parsing documents spanning almost a century.

The result tells a history of an ever-evolving power dynamic, from more powerful nations dividing and ruling the fisheries to successful regional cooperation through the Parties to the Nauru Agreement starting in 1982. That milestone agreement showed Pacific nations’ collective power and regional camaraderie.

“I think that’s the big story … how the islands have taken charge of the fishery that was historically controlled, totally controlled, by distant water fishing nations,” Johnson said.

The project was conceived by Glen Joseph, director of the Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority, to look at history and forecast the future.

Read the full story at the Honolulu Civil Beat