The Union of Fishermen: Their needs are a top priority, and we are working to provide them

Fishermen demand urgent solutions to save the profession

• 3700 dirhams, the cost of one fishing trip, including fuel, workers' wages and the captain's hand.

  archival

• Suleiman Al-Antali.

  Emirates today

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Fishermen demanded that urgent measures be taken to preserve the fishing profession in the country, foremost of which is allowing fishermen to raise the value of selling fish to a reasonable extent that is commensurate with the value of their losses, in light of the high costs of fuel. Covers the expenses of fishing trips.

While the head of the Cooperative Federation of Fishermen's Societies, Suleiman Rashid Al-Antali, confirmed to "Emirates Today" that the fishermen's needs are a top priority, and that the Union, in cooperation with the competent authorities, seeks to provide those needs.

He also stressed that the most important objectives of the union is to stand with the fishermen and fulfill their needs, in order to ensure the continuity of preserving the fishing profession, and to overcome the material and moral difficulties they face, especially in light of the current circumstances, pointing out that the union monitored many of the basic needs of fishermen, which would reduce the burdens. On the fishing professionals, it was represented in subsidizing the fuel for the fishing means of the citizens, which is one of the main reasons for the decline in their profits that they achieve from the daily fishing operations.

He added that the union seeks to exempt the fishermen from the tracking device maintenance fees, and to allow them to dispose of the boat license, whether by selling it or ceding the boat with the number from the same emirate, in addition to exempting fishermen from paying identity fees, passports and medical examination fees, for the employment registered on the license. fishing boat.

Al-Antali said that the members of the board of directors of the general fishermen confirmed that the failure of the competent authorities to respond to what hinders their profession in fishing, which is one of the most difficult professions, may cause the next generation to abandon the profession of ancestors.

For his part, the fisherman, Saeed Al-Za’abi, from the city of Kalba, confirmed that the fishermen’s claims are continuous and almost repetitive, but the available solutions do not serve the interests of the fisherman and do not benefit him, as his suffering continues almost daily.

He pointed out that not allowing the fisherman to raise the value of selling fish to a reasonable extent, which is commensurate with the value of the losses he incurred during his fishing trip, causes the accumulation of expenses on him and his inability to pay them, in addition to the emergence of new challenges, such as high fuel prices and value-added tax on fishing equipment, stressing Adhering to this profession is from the fisherman himself, despite not obtaining sufficient financial profit to cover his expenses.

The fisherman Mohammed Al Hammadi, from the Emirate of Sharjah, supported him in his opinion, saying: “Most of the fishermen are senior citizens, and they urgently need health insurance for themselves and their families, in addition to the need to open the way for fishermen, through the provision of companies supplying boat engines granted to fishermen by the Ministry of Climate Change And the environment, instead of one company working to supply them, to provide the fisherman with multiple options at different prices, and to choose the engine that suits his needs, especially that the cost of engines is currently high, and the prices of their maintenance and replacement do not match the income of the fisherman.

The fisherman, Mohammed Rashid Al-Naqbi, from the city of Khorfakkan, said that the financial return that he derives from the proceeds of selling fish hardly covers the expenses of fishing trips, for which large sums of more than 3,700 dirhams are allocated for one cruise, including fuel, wages of workers and sailors, in addition to equipment. related to hunting and supplies, and the great hardship in searching for fish requires going to deep and distant areas in the sea, which costs him other material losses, especially since some fishing trips return with little or no catch.

He pointed out that the situation has become almost impossible, especially in light of the high fuel prices, which increased the challenges the fisherman faces, calling for immediate solutions to the crisis faced by local fishermen.

temporary permits

The head of the Cooperative Federation of Fishermen’s Societies, Suleiman Rashid Al-Antali, said that the fishermen’s demands that the union monitored are many, including the need to provide health insurance for them and their families, and to allow the Facilities and Coasts Protection Agency to issue temporary permits under the name “Citizen exit on a fishing boat instead of the owner,” in addition to Regulating the process of importing fish from outside the country during the peak period, to ensure the stability of local markets, and pointed out that the fishermen also demanded a review of the company that supplied the engines granted to the fishermen, due to the high cost of the engines and the prices for their maintenance or replacement, stressing the need to support the consumable parts of fishing engines.

• Fishermen: The financial return from the proceeds of selling fish does not cover the expenses of fishing trips.

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