28 April 2005
Maldives In the Maldives private companies have now been allowed to venture into formerly MIFCO exclusive areas and purchase fish, Fisheries Minister Abdulla Kamaluddin revealed on Monday.
The decision was made last month and all operators have so far expressed interest in the new arrangement, the Fisheries Ministry’s assistant director general Fathin Hameed told a press conference.
New agreements may be signed with the private exporters in future, according to the ministry.
However, under the arrangement, a private company purchasing fish from the north cannot enter south Maldives though both the company and MIFCO will be allowed to purchase fish from each other’s zones in the north. The same arrangement holds for the parties, including MIFCO, which purchases fish from the south.
Zone 1 was earlier allocated to the state-run Maldives Industrial Fisheries Company and the private Island Enterprises while Zone 2 had previously been a MIFCO-exclusive region.
Zone 3 is allocated to two private companies -- Funaddu Tuna Products and Horizon Fisheries -- while Zone 4 had been exclusively allocated to MIFCO.
This new arrangement had to be made due to fish-purchasing problems faced recently, according to the minister.
The problem was underlined itself on Monday when the MIFCO-run Kooddoo Fisheries Complex, based in Gaafu Alifu atoll in the south, on Monday announced that it will for the time, limit purchasing only eight tons of fish per dhoni due to sheer numbers of fish caught by fishermen in the region.
