Fish supplies in stores dwindles, no fishing for over a month

Fishing in the Maldives has seen a drastic decline recently, leading to a shortage of fish and fish products in retail stores.

Many people have expressed their concerns on social media about this issue.

Maldives Industrial Fisheries Company Ltd (MIFCO) acknowledged receiving multiple complaints regarding the shortage of fish products in stores.

The company attributed low stocks to a significant decline in fishing activity and the amount of fish being supplied to them.

“The fish stocks in MIFCO’s fish stores are currently scarce or empty due to the decline in fishing in the country and the decrease in the number of fish weighed to the company,” MIFCO said.

While there is no limitation on canned fish, and customers can continue to purchase these products without concern, MIFCO noted that other types of skipjack tuna products would only be produced if skipjack tuna is available.

Yellowfin tuna products, however, will remain available in MIFCO shops, a senior MIFCO official said.

"Production is currently low due to the lack of skipjack tuna even as a value-added product. But with the improvement of fishing, the aisles of shops will be filled."

A fisherman from a southern island said that the decline in fishing is due to the drastic reduction in fish caught and the government's reduction in the rate at which they purchase fish.

“With the low number of fish caught, fishermen are not going out as they cannot make ends meet with the money they earn from weighing the small amount of fish,” he said.

"Baitfish and fish is available. But many fishermen are not fishing due to the price reduction".

It has been reported that some fishermen have not gone fishing for over a month.

State-owned MIFCO amended the rate for buying fish from fishermen and started purchasing at the international market price since June 21.

This decision was fueled by the significant increase in the amount MIFCO pays for fish and the cost of processing and selling fish compared to the revenue from international sales. So far, these costs have been covered through loans and government assistance.

Currently, the price of fish in the international market ranges between MVR 18-20 per kg.

Experts have called for aligning the price of fish to market levels. However, due to the action not being implemented, there are often delays in payments for fish purchased from fishermen.

Since the beginning of the current administration, fishermen have staged several protests over the issue of delayed payments.