MIFCO has stated that its goal is to arrange fish weighing at its facilities and vessels in a way that ensures not a single kilo of fish is wasted from the boats queuing to weigh their catch.
Regarding the issue where some fish from the fishing vessel 'Vindhu-1' of M. Naalaafushi, which took a queue number yesterday to weigh fish at MIFCO's Jazeera-105 currently in M. Atoll, could not be weighed and had to be thrown away, MIFCO stated that the fish from the vessel was not taken because the boat's brine capacity was full. Although the captain technically had the authority to take the fish from the vessel, the fish was not taken in that situation because the fish on the vessel had not been iced.
"The vessel that threw away the fish was the last one in the queue. They said they would wait in tow. By the time it was their turn, the brine capacity was only enough to take one and a half tonnes. Furthermore, it was fish that had not been iced. Therefore, it would be very difficult for a captain to make a decision in such a situation," the official said.
The official stated that the captains of the boats work in accordance with the procedures MIFCO follows in weighing fish onto the boats, and the issue occurred yesterday because it was not known that fish could be taken onto the boat in such a situation or that the responsibility for weighing such fish lies with the captain. Therefore, the official said that MIFCO will work to teach boat captains to take responsibility so that such an incident is not repeated in the future.
The official further stated that additional efforts will be made to educate and explain to boat captains the steps to take or how to act in such situations. The official also said that MIFCO's aim is always to arrange fish weighing in a way that does not cause difficulties for fishermen, and to proceed with fish weighing arrangements based on the available capacity so that the fish caught by fishermen is not wasted.
"MIFCO's responsibility is to take fish without losing a single kilo from the vessels issued queue numbers to weigh fish. Even at times when MIFCO incurs losses, sometimes low-quality fish has been taken from fishermen. That is considering the loss it would cause to the fishermen. I assure you that MIFCO will not act in any way that would cause loss to the fishermen. We are working to further familiarize boat captains with this," the official said.
MIFCO stated that it is shaping its operations to arrange for fish to be weighed easily without fishermen having to wait in queue for a long time.
