Statistics from the Maldives Industrial Fisheries Company (MIFCO) show that 31.6 million rufiyaa has been disbursed for fish caught by fishermen last week. According to statistics released by MIFCO, the government’s fish company, 210 fishing vessels sold their catch to MIFCO last week. A total of 31.6 million rufiyaa has been disbursed to these vessels. This is a 32.2 percent increase compared to the previous week. In the previous week, 23.9 million rufiyaa was disbursed to fishermen.
The highest amount of fish sold to MIFCO in recent history was on March 8th. On that day, MIFCO disbursed 7.5 million rufiyaa to 40 fishing vessels. According to MIFCO’s statistics, the company has disbursed 120 million rufiyaa for fish caught by fishermen in February this year. This is a 2.6 percent increase compared to January. In January, MIFCO disbursed 177 million rufiyaa to fishermen.
In line with President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu’s pledge, payments for fish caught by fishermen are being made within 48 hours. This pledge was implemented on the last Fishermen’s Day. According to MIFCO, the number of vessels engaging in fishing has increased due to this new policy. While the number of fishing vessels has increased, the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources has previously stated that young people who had left fishing vessels are now returning due to the regular payments.
Expanding the fishing industry and making it one of the largest revenue-generating industries for the Maldives is a goal of the government. To that end, work is underway to develop fishing facilities to solve the problems faced by the fishing industry within the first 3 years of the government. As part of this, MIFCO is working on building a fish canning factory in Hulhumale with the assistance of the Islamic Development Bank.
