Minister of Fisheries and Ocean Resources, Ahmed Shiyam, has stated that almost all actively operating fishing vessels are now registered in the national fishermen's registry.
Responding to a question from "Keyolha" at the ceremony held yesterday to sign a Memorandum of Understanding between the Bank of Maldives and the Fisheries Ministry to facilitate financial assistance for fishermen, the Fisheries Minister said that as of December last year, 95 percent of the vessels going out to sea in the Maldives have been registered in the registry.
"Since December, we have been saying that now roughly 95% of the fleet, which is basically almost all actively operating vessels, are registered. We note that there is not much interest from the people of vessels that are not active, currently under repair, or kept ashore for various reasons," Minister Shiyam said.
Minister Shiyam said that a large part of the work done to register vessels and fishermen in the national fishermen's registry was completed by Ministry teams traveling to all atolls of the Maldives. Minister Shiyam noted that because previous governments had talked about such things without achieving them, fishermen and vessel owners had little interest in registering.
Establishing a national fishermen's registry with the aim of making fishermen recognized by the state is a presidential pledge of President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu. To implement this pledge in its most complete manner, a Keyolhu phone application was introduced on 16 February 2024, and the opportunity to register on it has been opened.
