The current government is poised to invest MVR 4.5 billion in the fisheries sector, said the Minister of Fisheries Ahmed Shiyam on Saturday.
The government intends on developing mariculture as an individual economic sector, for which it has begun attracting foreign investors. In an interview with PSM, the minister provided the most recent developments regarding this, and confirmed the government will open for foreign investment opportunities in July.
“We have secured funding for this [mariculture]. We are hoping to attract MVR 4.5 billion for the fisheries sector, and I do not think there had been any other government that gave such a significant focus [on fisheries] before,” the minister commented.
The biggest challenge for the Maldives fisheries sector is lack of storage capacity, which results in a significant volume of unprocessed fish being exported. An estimated 87 percent of all the fish caught are exported as unprocessed fish.
Due to the lack of storage capacity, Maldives is forced to export the unprocessed fish despite no significant demand resulting in lower revenue.
Shiyam said the current government is focusing on developing cold storage and fish processing facilities to resolve the issues.
The country’s oldest cannery in Felivaru, has a capacity of 50 tons but is capable of exporting just 35 tons. The government intends on increasing the total capacity of this 40-year-old cannery up to 100 tons, Shiyam commented.
Besides existing canneries, the government has already revealed plans to establish canneries at F. Nilandhoo and GDh. Fiyoari. Shiyam said efforts are underway to ensure both these facilities become operational by the end of this year.
Shiyam projects both these new facilities becoming operational will increase the fish processing capacity up to 90 percent of all the fish caught across the Maldives.
The current administration has been taking extra measures to end the disparity between fisheries sector and other sectors, including the introduction of a new loan through the Bank of Maldives (BML), credit cards and other loan facilities for local fishers.