The skipper of the M. Nalafushi vessel 'Vindu-1', Ibrahim Shiyam, has stated that dumping yesterday's catch into the sea was not done to achieve any political motive or defame the government, but was due to the negligence of a MIFCO boat captain.
Sharing details of the incident with "Keyolha", Skipper Shiyam said that after catching 2.6 tonnes of fish at dawn near the buoy located 13 miles off Mulaku Atoll Muli, they travelled for about an hour and a half and approached MIFCO's 'Jazeera-105', which was on the north side of Mulaku, to queue for weighing the fish at around 10:05 am. He noted that another vessel was weighing fish at the time, and after that vessel finished, the boat stopped weighing fish without explaining the reason, informing them that weighing would resume at 04:00 pm.
"When asked, they said they stopped for now. They didn't even say what happened. They said they would weigh fish after 04:00 pm. I said we don't have ice. There is no ice available anywhere in this atoll. We have normal fish. They said it can be weighed. The boat gave assurance that the fish could be weighed. They told us not to worry and that the fish would be weighed.
Then I asked if there was another boat in tow. They said fishermen will be queued. They said they don't know how vessels are in tow. I asked if there is another vessel in tow behind that vessel, what is its capacity? What capacity will the boat take? If it cannot be weighed, give us an answer. The fish will become waste. After discussing all this and giving us assurance that it could be weighed, we waited in tow," the skipper said.
Skipper Shiyam said that after the boat captain gave assurance that the fish could be weighed, they waited in tow, and later, fish from vessels that came from fishing afterwards were also weighed onto the boat. However, despite crying and begging the captain to weigh the fish on their vessel, they were ignored and eventually had to dump it.
"People who came after catching fish in the evening also came and weighed their fish. We were still in tow. We had to dump our fish. It was 07:30 when the boat informed us that our fish could not be weighed. How can fish caught in the morning and kept without ice remain safe by then? It will rot, won't it? Then where would we go with that fish? Who would we call? The work done day and night was wasted. When they refused to weigh the fish even after crying and begging, we stayed near the boat and dumped the fish into the sea," the skipper said.
Skipper Shiyam said that out of desperation at the time, he even called the Member of Parliament for the Mulaku constituency, but no solution was found. He reiterated that dumping the caught fish into the sea was in no way an act of opposition against the government, nor was it done to defame the government or achieve a political motive. The skipper stated that the fish had to be dumped due to the negligence of the captain of 'Jazeera-105'.
"This was not done to be political. It wasn't even done to talk politics. We are not people trying to oppose and defame the government. There is no such thought at all. The boat made a mistake directly to defame the government, the boat captain worked directly to defame President Muizzu. Even before this, when we didn't receive payment 15 days after weighing fish, I called the captain, and he got angry and had people from different islands and even official numbers call and harass me. This is too much, right?" the skipper said.
Skipper Shiyam said that since the government is releasing payments to fishermen within 48 hours as promised, there is assurance that payments will be received promptly once the caught fish is weighed, so there are no complaints about that. However, he highlighted as a major issue that the lack of any government ice plant in the Mulaku area makes it difficult to get ice, forcing them to dump their catch.
"There is only one privately run ice plant in Dhiggaru. About 100 vessels fishing here operate. Ice won't be available from there for the next week either. They can produce 15 tonnes. This is the area where the most fishing vessels from different parts of the Maldives come to catch fish. Since last Ramadan up to now, about 100 vessels are fishing in this area. There is nowhere to get ice. There is no government ice plant here," the skipper said.
Skipper Shiyam said that having worked in the council as a former councillor, he knows how things progress and is aware that it will take a long time to build the fishing harbour the government has decided to establish in the atoll. However, he said that if arrangements are made for fishing vessels operating in the area to get ice from any island in the atoll until the harbour is built, it is believed that it will bring a solution to the hardship fishermen are currently facing.
"Instead of the fishing harbour the government plans to build by spending or investing 300-400 million Rufiyaa, if the government establishes an arrangement to provide 60 tonnes of ice per day to this area, whether established in Mulaku, Muli, or Veyvah, fishermen operating in this area will easily get ice. Once ice is available, fish won't have to be dumped into the sea because it couldn't be weighed. Then ice will be available until the fish is weighed or until they can go to an area where fish can be weighed, right?" the skipper said.
The 'Vindu-1' vessel caught 2.6 tonnes of fish yesterday. While that fish was dumped into the sea because it couldn't be weighed, based on MIFCO's commercial rate, it amounts to a total of 36,400 Rufiyaa worth of fish.
