Utilizing relationships built and lessons learned from the successful Fish Market Monitoring project, we have kicked off a new project to establish a fishers association in Majuro. This project is funded by the Nature Conservancy and supported by many partners, such as Majuro Atoll Local Government and the Conservation Society of Pohnpei.

The goal of this project is to gauge the interest and feasibility of establishing a fisher’s association that can provide a space and structure for fishermen to gather and discuss common issues, leverage collective bargaining power to design solutions, and cultivate a collective voice in upcoming regulatory discussions.

We are piloting an association in Laura to determine an effective structure that can be applied to all of Majuro. While the project is ongoing, we have achieved many milestones such as conducting a Fishers Perception Survey of nearly 100 household, gaining the support of local government representatives, and hosting conversations with Laura to discuss association structure and activities.