Maldives Industrial Fisheries Company Limited (MIFCO) has paid USD43 million to fishermen so far this year. MIFCO stated the Maldives is experiencing the high season for fishing, and many vessels have recorded a large amount of catch for the past four weeks.
Speaking to PSM News, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ismail Fauzee said the number of fish being processed has significantly increased since the first week of September, with fishermen being paid a total of USD43 million for 41,300 tonnes of fish so far this year. He noted MIFCO had paid fishermen USD58 million for 58,000 tonnes of fish for the entirety of 2021. He detailed MIFCO is currently processing a daily average of 600 tonnes of fish and recently processed a record 860 tonnes.
Additionally, Fauzee said MIFCO is establishing means to allow boats to process their catch without having to wait in queues, which would prevent fish from deteriorating in quality. He highlighted that some vessels travel long distances and come in for fish processing twice.
Furthermore, Fauzee noted the large size of the fish now being caught, which results in more time being taken to freeze them with brine freezing methods. He said the amount of time taken to freeze fish have increased from 10 hours to 12-13 hours. He, however, assured MIFCO will solve all the challenges faced by fishermen and upgrade its facilities.