A Taiwan businessman has proposed a major fishing service facility here to cement Majuro's role as a transshipment center, officials said yesterday, pointing to benefits of ties with Taipei that have come under fire over allegations of bribery.
Koo Kwang-ming (
"Diplomatic ties with Taiwan have played a great role" in Koo's interest in developing a fishing service and maintenance facilities in Majuro and the boom of Taiwan vessels using Majuro to transship tuna, Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority director Danny Wase said.
Despite consistent pressure from China, new Marshall Islands President Kessai Note confirmed this month that diplomatic ties with Taiwan would continue.
Majuro, seven degrees north of the equator, is just on the edge of the major fishing grounds centered in neighboring Kiribati, Nauru and the Federated States of Micronesia in this central Pacific region.
Of the 266 purse seiners that visited Majuro in the past year to transship their tuna catches, 172 were Taiwanese, according to Wase.
Koo, who heads the Taipei-based Koo Holdings Co, Ltd, and owns five purse seiners, said he wants to make Majuro the home port for his fleet and invest in a net repair and salt storage facility here.
The two services are critical to the operation of the huge purse seiner fleet operating in the central Pacific.
Koo said that his facility would bring many vessels to Majuro, establishing the Marshalls' capital as a center for transshipment.
The Marshalls earned US$5.4 million during the past fiscal year from transshipment operations.
If fish are near the Marshalls and if Majuro has infrastructure to service the fleet, then transshipment will grow, Silk said.
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