‘Be thankful,’ Noh tells fishermen

Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Noh Omar says deepsea fishermen bring back less catch but get a lot of aid.

KUALA LUMPUR: The federal government has justified its decision to abolish diesel subsidies for deepsea fishermen, saying the trawlers “produce” less in terms of catch as compared to coastal fishermen.

Highlighting the difference between aids and subsidies given to deepsea and coastal fishermen, Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Noh Omar said coastal fishermen contributed a whopping 80% of seafood catch compared to their deepsea counterparts who contribute a mere 20%.

This, he said, was despite the fact that both categories of fishermen received almost similar levels of subsidies and aids.

“Coastal fishermen should get more subsidy because they bring back more seafood.

“Deepsea fishermen bring back little but get a lot of aid…They should be thankful that the government has given them a lot of aid,” he told reporters at the Parliament lobby here today.

He said deepsea fishermen received 24,000 to 28,000 fuel subsidy quota a month. In addition, they receive a higher yield incentive of 20 sen per kilogram of catch.

In comparison, coastal fishermen receive 2,000 to 15 000 litres of subsidised fuel and a yield incentive of 10 sen per kilogram of catch.

“We give a lot of subsidies, we give fuel subsidy but the returns are low. So is it fair for the deepsea fishermen to be subjected to the same diesel subsidy?,” he asked.

About 1,000 C2 fishermen have been on strike since June 11 because they want the government to reconsider its decision to withdraw their super diesel subsidy.

The C2 trawler operators will now have to pay RM1.80 per litre compared with RM1.25 previously.

Deepsea fishermen will still receive a subsidy of RM1 as the market rate is RM 2.80 per litre. Fishermen from Zones A, B,C (coastal fishermen) still pay RM 1.25 per litre.

Many complaints

Noh said that the government had heard many complaints that the fuel and seafood obtained by these deepsea fishermen are being sold off to foreign fishermen at sea.

He added that these fishermen had refused the government’s call to install a tracking device on their vessels.

He also said that out of a total of 1028 deepsea fishermen, around 279 did not have a problem with the government’s decision and are back to work as usual.

Noh also slammed the media for creating an issue out of the matter, saying that it was not highlighting the matter in its entirety.

Opposition leaders and MCA had criticised the government’s response to the strike deeming it as “harsh”.

Both Noh and Domestic Trade, Cooperative and Consumerism Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob were quoted as conveying the sentiment that the government will not bow down to “threats” from these striking fishermen.

“The media is making all kinds of provocative statements; it is not that the government will not compromise.

“We will discuss but on condition that these C2 fishermen will bring more seafood catch back and also install a tracking system,” he clarified.

Saying that the government is open to discussions, Noh added that the two groups representing the deepsea fishermen had already approached him to discuss the subsidy issue.

“There are so many of these groups; they don’t have one representative body, so I don’t remember exactly which groups I met with,” he said.