The Fishermen's Lobby has called for an investigation and action against those responsible after the M. Naalaafushi Vindhu-1 vessel was forced to dump its catch into the sea yesterday.
The Fishermen's Lobby stated that the captain of MIFCO's weighing boat Jazeera-105 had assured the captain of Vindhu-1 that their catch would be weighed. However, the failure to weigh the catch resulted in a loss of MVR 36,400 just from the dumped fish. Factoring in fuel, crew provisions, and time spent, the estimated loss is close to MVR 50,000, and the Lobby believes the vessel must be compensated.
The Lobby strongly condemned the captain's actions and called on MIFCO and the Fisheries Ministry to investigate the matter and take action against those negligent.
"While strongly condemning this act, we call on the Fisheries Ministry and MIFCO to investigate this, find the negligent parties, and take action. We also call for compensation for the losses suffered by the vessel and crew due to the captain's actions," the Lobby stated.
The President of the Fishermen's Lobby, Shafga Shafeeg (Keyolhage Diye), said that regardless of whose negligence it was, the loss to the vessel and the loss of a day's income for the fishermen is unacceptable. She added that this must be fully investigated and action taken.
"The crew of the vessel must also be compensated for the loss. A loss to any member of our family is a loss to the whole family," Shafga said.
The Vindhu-1 vessel caught 2.6 tonnes of fish early yesterday morning and joined the queue to weigh it, but the fish remained unweighed by nightfall. Consequently, all the fish were dumped into the sea. MIFCO stated that by the time the vessel's queue number came up, there was not enough brine freezing capacity on the weighing boat. However, the captain said that when they joined the queue in the morning, the boat's captain assured them the fish would be weighed. When they were informed at 07:30 pm that the fish could not be weighed, they had no choice but to dump the catch. The captain also said the fish were dumped after pleading and crying to the boat's captain since morning to no avail.
