Discussions have been held on collaborating with councils to further expand the work of registering fishermen.
The Minister of Fisheries and Ocean Resources, Ahmed Shiyam, and the Minister of Cities, Local Government and Public Works, Adam Shareef Umar, along with senior officials from both ministries, participated in this consultative meeting held today.
During the meeting, Minister Shiyam and his ministry's team provided an update on the current progress of the fishermen's registration work. This work is proceeding by dividing the Maldives into zones, in collaboration with the ministry's teams and focal points from the councils. They also informed that a large number of fishermen have been registered so far.
In his remarks, Minister Adam Shareef Umar highlighted the importance of forming a special joint team between the two ministries to further strengthen the fishermen's registration work. Furthermore, he stated that information regarding the registry would be shared during meetings held with councils, and that his ministry's team would provide assistance.
At the meeting, discussions were also held regarding the additional assistance required by councils to register fishermen. Both ministers noted that this is an important effort being undertaken to develop the fisheries sector of the Maldives.
Making fishermen a state-recognized group is a policy of this government. Accordingly, to fulfill the presidential pledge made by President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu to compile a national registry of fishermen, special teams from the Fisheries Ministry are working by dividing the Maldives into 6 zones to compile a comprehensive national registry of fishermen.
While the government's policy is to make fishermen a group registered with a state institution, the Fisheries Ministry has stated that upon completion of the registry work, official information of all fishing vessels operating in the Maldives, along with captains and crew members, will be stored and maintained in the ministry's database.
