Revenue from the commercial fishing licenses jumped from five percent to 30 percent of local revenues in the Marshall Islands between 2006 and 2015, prompting calls for better financial management.
Income from the Parties to the Nauru Agreement to the Marshall Islands has risen from around $3 million a year to $20 million, which heightens the need for prudent fiscal management, said the Asian Development Bank’s Pacific Economic Monitor issued recently.
Prudent management is right on point and we needed it yesterday, said Alfred Alfred Jr., minister of resources and development, who oversees the fisheries sector. There is an increasing number of leaders who see this as a must. In the past, the Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority’s or MIMRA’s seven-member board was responsible for the allocation of this windfall of revenue, a situation that Alfred described as not optimal, because the process was non-transparent.
Starting with the fiscal year 2017 budget, which begins October 1, 90 percent of fisheries revenue will be included in the normal government budget process, with the leftover funds for MIMRA’s annual operating budget, Alfred said Monday.
We will channel fisheries revenue to [the Ministry of Finance] where it will be subject to the national budget preparation process, Alfred said. It is more transparent and inclusive. This way, the government’s budget committee, the cabinet and the Nitijela [parliament] are involved. Everyone will know what’s happening with fisheries revenue, he said.
The FY 2014 government-wide audit by Deloitte questioned about $4 million in fisheries-revenue spending by the previous government, saying it did not follow guidelines established by the fisheries law.
Alfred said President Hilda Heine’s administration wants to avoid these questions over use of the money and is preparing to introduce fisheries-amendment legislation later this month during the parliament session in order to formalize the requirement that fisheries revenue be channeled into the national government’s budget process.
2013 Marianas Variety