Fishing industry in the Marshall Islands adjacent to the Marshall Islands Exclusive Economic Zone. The fishery is composed primarily of Chinese-flagged vessels, which are based out of Majuro in the Marshall Islands; there were 11 vessels participating in this high seas fishery in late 2012. There is limited information available on catch levels and rates of taxa that are vulnerable to overexploitation due to their life history characteristics and susceptibility to capture in pelagic longline gear, due to low onboard observer coverage rates. For seabird interactions, based on analysis of Secretariat of the Pacific Community-held observer program data, from 1995-2009, in 203 observed trips, one seabird
Fishing industry in the Marshall Islands of available observer data, the fishery had discontinued the use of fishing gear and methods known to be employed to target sharks (using large pieces of fish meat as bait, and placing baited hooks near the surface by attaching branchlines to floats), which had been employed in previous years of the study period (2005-2008). In 2011 the Marshall Islands adopted a law that prohibits targeting sharks and prohibits the retention of sharks (see shark sanctuary). Fishing industry in the Marshall Islands The Republic of the Marshall Islands has a commercial fishery that targets bigeye ("Thunnus obesus") and yellowfin ("Thunnus albacares")