Tons of fresh tuna thrown away in Maldives

From Lhaviyani Naifaru, 29 November 2005
Naifaru - Local fishermen in the island are complaining because dictator Gayyoom of the Maldives has not been able to buy their catch through the monopolised Maldives Industrial Fisheries Cooperation (MIFCO) which is a 100% government company.

"They are just buy 2 tons from each Dhoni (fishing vessel) today, and the rest we are trying to sell in the local markets in the island, but we have more than 50 tons, this is more than what you can sell even in Male' (capital island)," said a fisherman on the phone earlier.

This problem is not new to Gayyoom as it has been happening over the last 7 years. Every time the fishing season gets underway, Gayyoom decides to control the quantity he buys from the people. These skipjack tuna caught with pole and line only, are second to none in the world, yet over the years Gayyoom has purposely ignored the potential of this industry so that our people remain poor. A fresh or chilled 3 kg skipjack tuna weighing 3 kg can fetch more than 30 US$ in EU markets but our fish are being thrown away because there is no market for it and Gayyoo is still controlling the purchase, processing and export of Maldives Tuna. Even the private companies that were given the license recently are unable to buy all the catch from the fisherman, which further proves that the only way forward is deregulation.

Maldivian fisherman across the country are struggling to make ends meet yet Gayyoom and his cronies are living like millionaires.

Below are some pictures from the two local markets of Lhaviyani Naifaru which close to the only fish canning factory in Maldives. The whole area is controlled by Gayyoom. No one else can buy and export fish from this region.

Source: Dhivehi Observer