32 honored for contributions to fisheries sector, including ex-minister Sobir

32 parties have been honored for their distinguished service to the fisheries industry, including former fisheries minister, late Hassan Sobir.

The awards were presented to the honorees during the official reception held on Saturday night at R. Dhuvaafaru to commemorate Fishermen’s Day at national level. In this regard, the awards were presented by President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu and Fisheries Minister Ahmed Shiyam.

The award presented to Sobir, who passed in July of this year, was received by his son, Ahmed Sobir Hassan.

During his tenure as Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture from 1993 to 1998, Sobir collaborated with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to conduct workshops on the management of fish, shark, and small-scale fisheries, and organized a national seminar.

He also published several books on fisheries during this period, including the then widely popular Fishes of the Maldives. In addition, Sobir played a key role in developing GA. Koddoo as a fish purchasing facility by establishing cold storage there and expanding the operations of the state-owned Maldives Industrial Fisheries Company (MIFCO) in the southern region.

At Saturday night’s ceremony, awards were also presented to individuals, companies, fishing vessels, and fishermen who made outstanding contributions to the sector during 2023 and 2024.

In addition to this, mobile applications were launched during the ceremony, aimed at easing the operations of fishermen.

In this regard, ‘Keyolhu’ app was launched by Home Minister Ali Ihusan, which would provide information to fishermen regarding locations of ice plants across the Maldives, the availability of ice at these ice plants and how much will be disbursed per vessel.

The second app, ‘Mas Kiraa’, launched by Health Minister Abdulla Nazim is aimed at improving services rendered by MIFCO to fishmen, particularly pertaining to weighing fish. The app will allow fishermen auto-generate token numbers for weighing fish without the involvement of a third party, eliminating the need to enter a physical queue. The token number can be tracked live.

According to MIFCO, the app was developed following extensive consultations with fishermen. 

Maldives' national fisheries brand From Maldives' website was also launched during the ceremony to promote Maldives fisheries products in the international market.