State Trading Organisation (STO) has decided to offer 20 barrels of diesel to vessels traveling to Kooddoo, Gaafu Alifu Atoll from the northern areas to sell fish.
STO decided to offer fishermen fuel to travel to Kooddoo in the south of the country, as its subsidiary Maldives Fisheries Company limited (MIFCO) is unable to process large quantities of fish stocks from the fish processing facility in the north. With fishing increasing in the north, the fish processing facility in Felivaru, Lhaviyani Atoll receives large queues of vessels with huge stocks of fish every day, while the centre is unable to purchase all the fish due to limited storage capacity.
MIFCO is also trying to shift fish stocks it purchases from fisherman to Kooddoo. However, the vessels moving fish stocks to Kooddoo takes 5 days to return, delaying fish purchasing and processing speed of the company.
Therefore, STO decided to offer fuel to vessels traveling to Kooddoo to speed up the process and compensate for the cost vessels bear in traveling to Kooddoo after fishing in the north of the country.
MIFCO purchases 200 tonnes of fish daily with the surge of fishing in the north, although it purchases about 60 tonnes a day on average usually. The surge has delayed fish processing speed and many fishermen have raised concerns about the delay in MIFCO processing their catch.