President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has reiterated the government’s commitment to strengthening the fisheries sector of the Maldives. The President made the remarks delivering the remarks commemorating the 40th Fishermen’s Day of the Maldives.
In the remarks, President Solih outlined the administration’s upcoming initiatives in the next year to fulfill the pledges related to fisheries sector. The President highlighted towards this end, the government will be investing in six new ice plants to increase storage capacity, while helping install cooling systems to increase storage on fishing boats.
Further, the President expressed it will help to ameliorate present difficulties in weighing and valuing fish catch, by setting up fish purchasing facilities. Additionally, he noted the government will be taking forward plans to strengthen mariculture on a national scale, among many other such initiatives.
Acknowledging the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on the Maldives’ fisheries industry, the President spoke on the urgent need to invest more in this sector as part of the Maldives’ economic diversification efforts. The President highlighted that the pandemic very clearly illustrated the danger of our whole economy being overly dependent on a single industry, and reiterated that strengthening and expanding our fisheries sector will be an important part of our recovery and resilience efforts.
Ending the remarks, the President encouraged the public to give their full support towards the advancement of the Maldives fisheries sector, whilst emphasizing that the government would, in turn, provide all the assistance it can towards this end.