Marshall Islands Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands, officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands (), are an island country and a United States associated state near the equator in the Pacific Ocean, slightly west of the International Date Line. Geographically, the country is part of the larger island group of Micronesia. The country's population of 53,158 people (at the 2011 Census) is spread out over 29 coral atolls, comprising 1,156 individual islands and islets. The islands share maritime boundaries with the Federated States of Micronesia to the west, Wake Island to the north, Kiribati to the southeast, and Nauru to the south.
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")