Marshall Islands fisheries chief Glen Joseph to lead regional fisheries body

When Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority (MIMRA) executive director Glen Joseph moves to take up the reins as chief executive of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (PNA) Office, he will become the fifth from US-affiliated islands of Micronesia - and only the second Marshallese - to head a major regional organisation.

After 21 years at the helm of MIMRA, and 30 with the fisheries authority altogether, Joseph is one of the region's most experienced fisheries managers.

The Marshall Islands government earlier in the year nominated him for the PNA Office CEO post once current CEO Dr Sangaa Clark confirmed her intent to wrap up her second term as CEO later this year.

Joseph's nomination was endorsed by PNA fisheries ministers who met in Majuro Tuesday this week.

When he takes over from Dr Clark on 1 January 2027, Joseph will become the fourth PNA Office CEO.

Joseph started in fisheries from the ground up while studying for his bachelor's degree at the University of the South Pacific in Suva in the mid-1990s when he interned with MIMRA during school breaks.

After graduating, he took a full-time role at MIMRA and performed numerous hands-on fisheries jobs from fisheries observer work to fisheries enforcement to fisheries vessel licensing.

By the early 2000s, Joseph was elevated to deputy director under Director Danny Wase. When Wase stepped aside in early 2005, the MIMRA board named Joseph to head the fisheries department.

Under Joseph's leadership, the Marshall Islands engagement in regional fisheries matters increased dramatically. And Joseph's influence in the Forum Fisheries Agency and PNA grew.

Although the PNA group was established in 1982, it was not until 2008-2009 that it began flexing its muscle for implementing a then novel approach to managing purse seine tuna fishing: Restricting "effort" rather than capping the number of vessels allowed to fish. This innovation was known as the Vessel Day Scheme and today is the operative management mechanism for the eight PNA nations, which includes the Marshall Islands, in whose waters over 50 percent of the world's skipjack tuna is caught.

During that 2008-2009 period, a triumvirate of fisheries visionaries - Papua New Guinea's National Fisheries Authority Managing Director Sylvester Pokajam, FFA deputy director Dr Transform Aqorau, and Joseph - with the backing of the late Marshall Islands fisheries Minister Mattlan Zackhras, hatched the plan to establish a PNA Office to be located in Majuro.

With PNG carrying significant weight in the PNA due to its huge fisheries footprint, Pokajam's support for the PNA Office to be placed in Majuro was crucial.

That office opened in April 2010, with Aqorau as its first CEO.

What the PNA Office did with Aqorau at the helm and fisheries leaders like Joseph and Pokajam behind him was nothing short of spectacular.

Despite heavy push-back from the fishing industry at the beginning of full implementation of the Vessel Day Scheme (VDS), the PNA enforced it, raising the level of revenue generated for the PNA members from US$60 million a year to US$500 million annually by the 2020s. Moreover, the VDS is the foundation for managing the purse seine fishery in a sustainable manner, a fact confirmed by stock assessments issued regularly by the scientists at the Pacific Community (SPC).

The VDS is also a platform for tuna value chain participation for the eight PNA members. It is in this area that Joseph and MIMRA stand out in the region.

Since 1987, when the United States Pacific Islands Tuna Treaty was signed with the FFA member countries, the agreement included the possibility of trade arrangements between Pacific Islands and the US market. But try as they may, for decades the FFA got nowhere with the US government as it sought a pathway for fish exports to the US market.

Meantime, MIMRA set up a joint venture with long-time NGO partner The Nature Conservancy, establishing Pacific Island Tuna, a tuna supply company based in Majuro.

This upstart company was established to elbow into the lucrative tuna supply market, one that is dominated by a handful of global corporations. And engage it did. Pacific Island Tuna negotiated a deal with Walmart, the world's biggest retail corporation, to supply sustainably caught tuna from PNA waters.

And just like that, the Marshall Islands opened the door into the US market after decades of the FFA finding that door closed by the US government. The tuna supply deal with Walmart is now in its fourth year.

Meanwhile, under Joseph's management, MIMRA built a new headquarters building in Majuro, funded by its PNA fisheries revenue, that opened in 2019.

It contains state of the art fisheries monitoring, control and surveillance facilities and equipment - elevating MIMRA's fisheries management operation.

The sophisticated systems at the new headquarters were accompanied by a major investment in MIMRA Oceanic Division's port state control work, which included nearly 100 percent monitoring of all transshipment and unloading of tuna to carrier vessels in the lagoon or at dockside, and the dispatch of fisheries observers on both purse seine and longline vessel fishing trips.

But an even bigger prize in the tuna value chain was on the horizon: Access to the European Union's 27 member nations, the largest fisheries market in the world.

The EU, however, requires strict hygiene and anti-illegal fishing standards from any country wanting to access its market.

Joseph looked to PNG, which had gained EU certification years earlier, hiring a consultant who had worked on PNG's process of accreditation.

This led to establishment within MIMRA of a Competent Authority and further to the expansion of its headquarters building with an annex that contains a sophisticated laboratory for testing fish quality in order to meet the stringent standards set by the EU.

Last December, MIMRA's Competent Authority was audited by the EU after six years of painstaking preparation. That led to ongoing follow-up to fill in gaps. As 2026 comes to a close, Joseph last week said in an interview he expects that once the EU concludes its own internal review process, the Marshall Islands will become the latest nation to be certified to export marine products to the EU market.

When this happens, the Marshall Islands will be the fifth country in the Pacific certified to export to the EU following in the footsteps of PNG, Fiji, Solomon Islands and Kiribati.

In the meantime, while these innovations relate to the PNA and regional tuna fisheries, Joseph has pushed the Coastal Fisheries program at MIMRA to new heights.

Last year, for example, MIMRA hosted its second National Ocean Symposium for public discussions heavily focused on managing coastal marine resources sustainably. MIMRA's work in 2023 and 2024 paved the way for President Hilda Heine to join other leaders early last year in declaring the country's first National Marine Sanctuary encompassing uninhabited Bikar and Bokak atolls in the northern Marshalls.

MIMRA in recent years has partnered with the National Geographic's Pristine Seas program to major benefit for the Marshall Islands. These and other partnerships, including with the Ocean Exploration Trust, have led to unprecedented levels of both deep ocean surveys throughout this watery nation and surveys of coral reef habitats at Bikar, Bokak, Bikini and Rongelap atolls.

Focus on accountability

Something Joseph expresses particular pride in relates to accountability and donor partnerships.

This year, MIMRA was the first Marshall Islands government entity to complete its fiscal year 2025 audit - while many government agencies were still working on their FY2024 audits.

Similarly, MIMRA has a partnership with the World Bank unlike any other agency in country. It manages the Pacific Islands Regional Oceanscape Program for Economic Resilience (PROPER) that is run through MIMRA's own project management unit, not that of the Ministry of Finance. A World Bank review of PROPER last week upgraded MIMRA's rating for progress toward achieving its Project Development Objectives to "Highly Satisfactory."

It is a testament to the organization Joseph has built in his two decades of leadership that the authority maintains a high level of accountability and transparency in operations.

MIMRA was recognized several years ago by the regional fisheries expert Robert Gillett for being "one of the few fisheries departments in the Pacific that produces an annual report, which is essential for both promoting the fisheries and being transparent in operations."

Joseph's legacy at MIMRA is visible for all to see. As he prepares to step into the PNA CEO position, he leaves behind a fully functioning organization that is effectively managing fisheries at all levels for the Marshall Islands.