Regular payments guarantee coupled with better fishing conditions have led to an up tick of fishing vessels heading to sea, State-owned fisheries firm, Maldives Industrial Fisheries Company Limited (MIFCO) has said.
Local fishermen have long complained about the long delay in receiving payments for their catch. When this Administration took office in November last year, arrears to local fishermen amounted to around USD15 million. Despite some initial setbacks, this Administration has gradually settled the arrears.
On this year’s Fishermen’s Day, celebrated on 10 December, President Dr Mohamed Muizzu had announced that his Administration had now made arrangements to settle payments to fishermen within 48 hours.
True to the President’s pledge, MIFCO is now depositing payments to fishermen well within 48 hours. The amount of fish purchased by MIFCO has increased in the past two weeks since payments were regularised, with a daily average of 272 metric tonnes of fish during the last week.
According to statistics, overall fishing declined last year which coincided with the decline in purchases by MIFCO. As MIFCO tried to settle the arrears, there was also a drop in the number of fishing boats heading to sea.
From August to mid-November, the amount of fish purchased by MIFCO was almost the same as last month. During the period, 5,771 metric tonnes of fish were purchased by MIFCO and USD4 million were paid to fishermen.
From December 10 last year to January 10 this year, 5,248 metric tonnes of fish were purchased by MIFCO. A total of USD3.9 million was disbursed to the fishermen within 48 hours during this period.
MIFCO expects more fishermen to come in with their catch in the coming weeks, with fishing especially good in Huvadhu Atoll.
Most fishing boats spend around USD3,200 per trip on fuel and supplies. MIFCO believes that regular payments will encourage more fishing vessels to head to sea.
MIFCO highlighted the assistance and cooperation from the Ministry of Fisheries and Ocean Resources along with Bank of Maldives (BML) in the efforts to deposit payments to fishermen within 48 hours of purchases.
The administration has initiated significant efforts to enhance and diversify the country’s fisheries industry. The government has pledged to alleviate the issue faced by local fishermen within the next two years.