Several boats queued up at MIFCO’s Kooddoo Fisheries Complex this week with bountiful catches amid the January and February peak fishing season. But some boats were issued tokens with estimated processing periods of more than 10 days.

“Yes, there are tokens given until the end of February,” Shiyam acknowledged in response to questions raised at parliament yesterday. “But MIFCO has informed me that fishing boats on the queue until the end of the month can be processed within two days.”

There were about 80 boats, including those from Addu ond Laamu atoll, waiting to sell their catch, a fisherman from Faresmaathoda told the Maldives Independent on Tuesday. The queue was ordered based on the volume of fish catch and MIFCO’s daily purchasing and storage capacity, he said.

“Some boats might have 10 tonnes of tuna, but they are putting down maybe 40 or 50 tonnes, so MIFCO will estimate when they can expect to take on that catch within the next few days and issue tokens,” he explained.

Some boats with onboard refrigerated seawater or RSW systems have been leaving the queue for more fishing trips, he noted.

Hussain Rasheed, a fishermen from Laamu atoll, said his Riveli 2 boat had to sail back due to the long queue.

“Last Sunday, we went to Kooddoo with 14 tonnes of tuna after fishing at Sathoa Rahaa. There were like 200 boats there in the queue,” he recalled. “We waited for a day, but when we knew we were going to have to wait long and the catch would be ruined we came back to Laamu fast. Luckily we were able to sell it to [private buyer] Maandhoo that day. “

The fishing boat owner complained about the unavailability of ice for freezing: “Even if fishing is good, how do we do this if we don’t get ice or can't sell it?”

The government fisheries company has been working round the clock to clear the backlog, MIFCO spokesman Ibrahim Saeed told the Maldives Independent. 

“This is not the first time that fishermen have had to queue. But unlike previous years, we are not asking fishermen to limit their catch and imposing limits,” he noted.

MIFCO staff at the company’s three locations across the country have been attending to calls from boats and processing at maximum capacity, he stressed.

“I understand that some fishermen can get frustrated. But we are working round the clock to cater to this demand, we are attending to calls from boats. It’s not like we are sleeping. Tomorrow one of our carrier boats will arrive, it can load over 3,000 tonnes at once, and it will take them out [of the country], and that will help us a lot to clear out the backlog.”

The collector vessels have been scheduled to arrive consecutively for the rest of the month, Saeed said.

Appearing in parliament yesterday, the fisheries minister blamed the previous administration’s failure to resolve MIFCO’s longstanding storage and purchasing constraints. 

Fishing boats are forced to queue up every year during the peak season.

Shiyam said MIFCO has been buying at maximum capacity in recent days. “MIFCO’s buying capacity is 420 tonnes per day. Now they are buying the full 420 tonnes every day, but there are days that they get 450 tonnes,” he said.

But he acknowledged inefficiencies when boats overestimate their catch, though this could lead to faster processing for vessels further back in the line.

“When a tuna boat is on the way to Kooddoo, they call and say they’re coming with 40 or 50 tonnes. So Kooddoo reserves 50 tonnes. But when it reaches Kooddoo, they actually have 20 tonnes, so they are able to call the next boat much quicker than expected.” he said.

The government is working on increasing MIFCO’s storage capacity from 8,000 tonnes at present to 25,000 tonnes, the minister said. 

Shiyam criticised the “low efficiency” of the Jazeera fish processing vessels procured by the former government. Many of those ships were out of operation. 

“We have started the repair of Jazeera 2 and Jazeera 3, hoping to bring it into operation before the season. We are hoping we can repair and bring these two boats into operation within the next two days. That will be a big help to solve the current queue problem,” he told lawmakers.

“With God’s grace, this is the last year that fishers will have to get on the queue. We will change the situation of the fisheries sector to a level where fishers can sell their catch no matter how good the fishing is.”