Fishers continue protest over unpaid dues

The protests, by local fishers that kicked off on Friday at Maldives Industrial Fisheries Company (MIFCO)'s Addu harbor, are still ongoing.

Maldives Police Service confirms a total of 80 fishermen are still at the harbor, who have warned to shut the factory down if senior officials fail to respond to them.

Some protesters have warned to interrupt the factory's kitchen operations as well.

Addu City Hulhudhoo's council member Hussain Faizurrahman confirms the fishers were protesting about the money MIFCO owed them.

He also added since the protests are proceeding at a MIFCO-managed venue, it was not creating any difficulties for the general public of the city.

Owing to significant delays in outstanding payments to fishers, the Bodu Kanneli Masvering Union (BKMU) - a union representing yellowfin tuna fishers - organized a protest earlier on June 12, making multiple demands from the government.

The BKMU-led protests in early June were called-off the following day's midnight, after the government agreed to slice fuel prices for fishers.

The state made its last disbursement on June 13, which was a payment of MVR 46 million out of the MVR 80 million government owed to fishers, and promised to settle the remainder soon.

MIFCO confirmed to 'Sun' there have been no significant accruals to the pending total, adding it was because fisheries activities had slowed down currently.

The company however, did not confirm how much it owed to fishers in pending total now.