The neighbouring island to Vilingili is the home of a tuna
processing plant. Our friendly customs
officials from our arrival at Vilingili had given us the number of the general
manager of the plant and Bryan had called to see if we could pay them a
visit. “No problem” was the response, so
today we set off in the dinghy and had a tour round the plant.
Tuna is caught by line rather than nets in the Maldives,
quite different to our experience in Sri Lanka with the large and cumbersome
nets the fisherman use there. Tons and
tons of tuna are caught, though currently there is a bit of a lull in the
amount caught. The fish caught at local
islands is collected by big tuna boats with refrigeration (huge ice buckets)
and transported back to the tuna factory. Here it is deep frozen in brine, and then taken to preparation areas
where it is rapidly defrosted in hot baths and then cleaned and prepared for
the huge smoking ovens. The tuna is
smoked for anything up to 20 days. We
sampled some of the smoked tuna and found it to be really tough and difficult
to chew (ended up being discreetly stowed in our pockets for later disposal
with out causing offence to our hosts) but apparently there is a market for
this in Thailand and Japan as well as in Maldives.
Our tour took us through the full process ending up in the
factory shop where we bought some of the less heavily smoked tuna expecting it
to be a little softer (not quite as soft was hoped though!) We were only
allowed to photograph the outside of the factory so unfortunately no snaps from
inside, but the site employs some 500 staff (mainly from Vilingili) and houses
many of the staff in staff accommodation during the week with them returning to
their homes at the weekend. The tuna
island has no other local population but seemed quite self sufficient including
their own vegetable gardens for the hydroponic growth of cucumbers, chilli,
cabbages and tomatoes.
It was an interesting visit, and good to see some
significant local employment that must be a boost for the islands nearby. It also seems a well managed and even modern
facility in some respects. We were not
permitted entry into one section due to being unable to find enough white coats
for us and not having the right footwear quoting it to be necessary as part of
the EU regulations, but still took us to the entrance where we could see most
of what was happening inside.
Tomorrow we raise the anchor again for our final destination
in the Huvadhoo atoll. More later...
