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Maldives fish export debacle
Ismail Naseer
Haveeru 19 December 2001
translated by Maldives Culture editors
Kooddoo Fish Centre [Gaaf Alif atoll, or nothern Huvadhu atoll] and fish collecting vessels have reached full capacity and there will be no official fish purchases in the southern atolls for three days.
Due to unfortunate circumstances in the export trade, fish buying had to cease, says Deputy Managing Director Ibrahim Athif Shukoor.
Maldivian tuna fishing
Photo: Haveeru
'We export fish in chartered ships. Vessels chartered before the 18th of this month [December] were unable to arrive in Maldives. We tried very hard to bring those ships to Maldives during the last holiday period,' says Shukoor. 'We charter ships from a company in Bangkok. Due to some difficulty with that company we were unable to get any vessels. Now we have to go to international tender to get ships.'
There is good fishing in parts of Maldives at the moment, says Shukoor. MIFCO figures show that it has bought 1,800 tons of fish at Koodoo and its containing vessels during November. Up until the 15th December they had purchased 1,600 tons of fish for the month, with 365 tons purchased yesterday alone. The company bought 4,000 tons of fish during the fasting month [Ramadan 2001, 15 Nov - 15 Dec].
'Difficulties can occur regardless of how well prepared we are,' says Shukoor. This huge obstacle has occurred in our exporting arrangements while the catch is high. The truth is we cannot buy anymore right now. We had to stop. We have even filled the holds of the ships we have under repair.'
A fish exporting vessel will arive in Malé on Saturday. 'Then there will be room in our storage facilities and we'll start buying fish again on Monday,' says Shukoor.
Though fish purchases ceased in the south, in the northern atolls fish buying has continued. The northern collecting vessels have been unloading in Koodoo, and some fish have gone to the Felivaru Canning Factory [Lhaviyani atoll]. The Kooddoo Fish Exporting Centre has a 1,900 ton capacity.