Great catch, nowhere to sell; fishermen struggle

Fishing has recovered after a difficult period, and now the biggest concern of fishermen is the lack of ways to weigh the fish they catch.

Most of the fishermen who leave their islands for fishing have been returning practically empty-handed the last four months. Fishing has not been good in any part of the Maldives. However, islands now report that fishing has improved significantly since last week.

According to some fishermen, these are the best fishing days of the year.

HA. Ihavandhoo is one of the islands in the north where fishing is most extensively done.

"There are 19 fishing vessels on the island, but all the vessels are out at sea today," said Council President Ahmed Sobah.

"Fishing has greatly improved now".

Vessels from some islands have been catching more fish than they have in a long time.

A record number of fish were caught by ‘Oikuri’ and 'Asdan' fishing vessels from Th. Vandhoo this past week. Fishing has also improved in the southern atolls.

The biggest complaint of fishermen is that the state-owned fisheries company has no capacity for their catch when the fishing vessels go to weigh their catches. They then have to join a long queue, waiting with their raw, fresh fish.

"Some of our vessels have to be in the queue for a week," said GDh. Fares-Maathoda council member Ahmed Naseem.

He said that it was a matter of great concern for fishermen that all the vessels of the island did not have the means to weigh their daily catch of fish which averages 20-40 tonnes per day per vessel. The vessels in the area weigh their fish at Kooddoo.

MIFCO vessels are sent to the northern areas to weigh the fish from the islands, but Ihavandhoo reports that the MIFCO vessel off the island gets overloaded within a day’s time.

"Even yesterday, a fishing vessel had to stay in the lagoon idle, without any means of weighing their fish," said the president of the Ihavandhoo Council.

Fishermen from the north have to then take their catch to Lhaviyani Atoll, but the journey to Lh. Felivaru is very costly, he said.

In addition to the lack of fish storage facilities, the unavailability of ice is also a complaint of fishermen. In many islands that house ice plants, the plant has either been destroyed or has some technical  issues that restricts ice availability. Fishermen are left with no way to store the fish they’ve caught until they can manage to sell it even. 

MIFCO admits that there are difficulties in fish storage and weighing at a time like this when the fishing has gotten better.

MIFCO Operations Manager Ahmed Zahir told Atoll Times on Monday that the capacity of fish storage at the company is 450-500 tonnes per day. Now, on average, 700 tonnes of fish are brought in daily, he said.

Zahir said that 716 tonnes of fish were brought in for weighing last Thursday alone.

According to Zahir:

"Yesterday at noon, a vessel weighed in 40 tonnes of fish with us and then left and returned again before evening with 20 tonnes of fish," he said.

"This is much higher than our capacity."

Zahir said that the fishing has improved after four months of going dry. He also noted that fishing is improving from central Maldives to the south.

He said that the MIFCO fish factory in Kooddoo is also being overloaded with fish down south in Gaafu Alifu Atoll. 

The same problem arose in April this year as well. Some fishermen even protested in Kooddoo at the time due to the same issues.