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The Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) consists of two island chains of 29 atolls and five low-elevation coral islands in the central Pacific. The total land area is only 70.05 square miles, with 4,506.87 square miles of lagoonal areas, and an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of over 750,000 square miles. The population level in the 1988 census was 43,380, and the average annual growth rate was 4.17 percent. The Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority (MIMRA) is the primary agency responsible for the exploration, exploitation, regulation and management of the living and non-living marine resources in the RMI. The National Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), Marshall Islands Development Authority (MIDA), Kwajalein Atoll Development Authority (KADA), and the local atoll governments also play significant roles in the exploitation and regulation of the marine resources sector. The resolution of jurisdictional overlaps is urgently required to avoid potential management problems.

The reefs of the Marshall Islands are among the most pristine in the Indo-Pacific, having suffered minimal damage from bleaching, destructive fishing techniques, and sedimentation. However, signs of unsustainable resource exploitation are apparent, including the earlier extirpation of the largest giant clams, and the ongoing reduction of reef shark, grouper, and Napoleon wrasse populations. In addition, localized outbreaks of crownof-thorns starfish (COTS) and coral disease, principally on the capital atoll of Majuro, are ongoing. Another concern is the growing, unregulated exploitation of reef fish for the local markets.

In September 1991 the Government of the Marshall Islands requested assistance in compiling a bibliography of material relating to fisheries and marine resources of the Marshall Islands. After discussions between the staff of the Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority and the Fisheries Programme of the South Pacific Commission, it was decided that a search for appropriate documents would take place in Majuro, Guam, Tokyo, Honolulu and Suva during September, October and November 1991.

The Marshall Islands are critically dependent on the health of their coral reefs: every rock and sand grain on the islands are the remains of coral reef organisms. Only actively growing coral reefs can protect the islands against ocean waves and global sea level rise, and provide fish to feed the people. These crucial services are rapidly deteriorating because global warming is bleaching and killing corals, while also accelerating the spread and virulence of coral-killing diseases. As a result every atoll island has a serious erosion problem, which will get much worse as global sea level rise and storm intensity accelerate, unless the reefs that protect the islands can be grown back. The solutions now being used to protect the shoreline are both costly and ineffective. In order to demonstrate practical solutions to these problems we started three pilot coral reef restoration projects and one pilot shore protection project in Majuro using Bjorock® Technology in early 2007.

RMI’s EEZ represents approximately 2 million square kilometres of ocean. Vision 2018 calls for maximising rents from the fisheries sector within sustainable limits and recognises the importance of research and monitoring of fish stocks. In response to the 2004 Convention on Biological Diversity, Micronesian leaders from RMI, Federated States of Micronesia and Palau took this a step further in 2006 and established a sub-regional arrangement known as the Micronesian Challenge with a secretariat based in Palau. The objectives of Micronesian Challenge are the conservation of 30 percent of near shore marine resources and 20 percent of terrestrial resources by 2020.