The government-owned Maldives Industrial Fisheries Company (MIFCO) has decided to only sell to foreign buyers that agree to its conditions in a bid to prevent losses caused by rejection of fish from shipments sent overseas.
"We won't sell fish any other way by the end of March. The happy news we want to give all citizens is that they won't hear news of MIFCO's fish being rejected in the future," MIFCO CEO Ahmed Shamaah Rasheed said at Parliament's State-Owned Enterprises (SOE) Committee yesterday.
"There won't be rejections, would there, when they [foreign companies that purchase fish] send their quality controller to the Maldives and the fish is graded and checked."
MIFCO's top officials were summoned to the SOE Committee over a complaint alleging misuse of company resources for political purposes.
Responding to a question from Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Yaugoob Abdulla about rejected fish, Shamaah said he had discussed the matter with Thailand companies after assuming his role.
"For example, we're sending 3,000 tons. When they get the fish, they might say 500 tons have been rejected. Because of high histamine [levels]. '500 tons are missing.' They even say this. But I haven't believed since the first day that this would happen," he said about how fish is rejected.
Following discussions with buyers from Thailand, MIFCO proposed ways to rectify the situation, Shamaah informed the committee, saying that he believed the process should be more efficient.
"Fish won't get rejected if your quality controller comes to the Maldives and [if] the business must be concluded at our harbor. [We said] we won't put fish on the boat unless it has been approved by your quality controller. Weigh the fish in the presence of the quality controller, pay the money and take it," Shamaah said.
But the companies did not accept the proposal and MIFCO started looking for other markets to export fish from the Maldives, Shamaah said. An agreement has been reached with a British company, he revealed.
Thailand is the main destination for frozen fish exports from the Maldives.
