Maldives Industrial Fisheries Company (MIFCO) has revealed it has purchased 19,000 tonnes of fish so far this year.
Speaking to PSM News, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ismail Fauzee said the main focus of MIFCO is to purchase as much catch from fishermen as it can, but that it has controlled the fish purchases in the southern region due to the current overload on fish carrying and processing capacity, which was caused by the high number of fish being caught in the south. As such, he said that vessels will be carrying five tonnes of fish until the boats in queue at the southern fish processing centres are managed.
Furthermore, CEO Fauzee said MIFCO continues to purchase fish up to its maximum capacity and has been able to purchase 19,000 tonnes of fish and pay a total of USD19 million to fishermen so far this year. He detailed that the company’s southern fleet purchase a daily average of 100 tonnes of fish. MIFCO stated that the highest number of fish are processed at the Kooddoo Fisheries Complex and the second highest number of fish are processed at the Addu Fisheries Complex.
Additionally, Minister of Fisheries Dr. Hussain Rasheed Hassan stated MIFCO has decided to bring in an additional boat from abroad temporarily to alleviate the overload on the carrying capacity of the southern fleet. The minister said that fishermen have expressed concern over having to wait in queues for fish processing and that MIFCO is working to quickly process fish in Maandhoo, Kooddoo, and Hulhumeedhoo. He noted that the issue can be permanently solved by increasing the freezing capacity in the southern region and that a large vessel with cold storage capacity has been added to the fleet as a temporary measure.