Maldives urges reforms to address challenges faced in fisheries sector

Maldives has urged for reforms to address the challenges faced by nations like itself in the fisheries sector during the 3rd United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3).

State Minister for Fisheries Aminath Hussain Shareef took part in an event held on the sidelines of UNOC3, ‘Addressing Market Access Challenges Faced by Small-Scale Fisheries’, organized by the International Pole & Line Foundation.

During the event, discussions were held regarding difficulties faced by nations such as the Maldives in the fisheries industry while advocating to resolve issues faced in entering new markets.

State Minister Aminath, in her remarks, shared how the Maldives had to push for reforms at the IOTC to meet certification demands; a responsibility no small island developing state should have to bear alone.

The Minister, welcoming the decision by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to revise the ecolabeling guidelines, emphasized that nations such as the Maldives urgently required a fair, transparent, and equitable certification system built by them, for them, which reflects the realities of small-scale fisheries.

Fisheries Minister Ahmed Shiyam has recently announced that the current administration is poised to invest MVR 4.5 billion in the fisheries sector.

According to the Minister, the biggest challenge for the Maldives fisheries sector is the 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.