Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has called on authorities to stop cheating fishermen and hindering their work.

In a press release on Wednesday, the main opposition party said that Maldivian fishermen are hardworking individuals whose family rely on their income for the fasting month of Ramadan, during which they devote much of their time for religious duties.

MDP said that while Fares-Maathodaa has a population of 1,887, out of those, 360 are fishermen that make do with 12 boats and has a community reliant on fishing as an income. MDP said Fares-Maathodaa had been running a 10-ton ice plant before the government stepped in and established a 25-ton ice plant of Maldives Industrial Fisheries Company (MIFCO) after promising to do things better. After MIFCO’s ice plant malfunctioned, the government didn’t reopen it until days later, afterwards the ice plant was again closed after a week of reopening it, noted the party.

The government has recently said that the Fares-Maathodaa ice plant will be reopened in May 15. Meanwhile, the fishermen have to spend more time and fuel travelling to other islands to get ice, said the party after calling for the end of the government’s increasing monopoly on the fishing industry.

MDP also noted that the government has stopped giving fishermen fuel subsidies and hiked fuel prices and has yet to fulfill its pledge to give fishermen a basic coverage of MVR 10,000 regardless of their catch, as part of a fisherman insurance scheme.

MDP called on authorities to stop cheating fishermen and to immediately reopen the ice plant as well as to give fishermen fair pay.