SANDAKAN: The issue of insufficient diesel supply for fishing vessels, which has affected fishing operations here, has received feedback from the Fisheries Development Authority Malaysia (LKIM).
The LKIM said the Federal Government had allocated 70 million litres of monthly subsidised diesel fuel for fishermen in Zones A, B, and C throughout Malaysia.
This subsidy is intended to cover a portion of the fuel costs required by fishing vessels, not the entire cost.
Therefore, the issue of insufficient diesel supply should not arise if diesel usage is implemented according to the set quota.
The LKIM has also implemented various measures to ensure there is no leakage in the provision of this subsidy. These include setting quotas for diesel sales and usage by each vessel.
This is to ensure that only eligible fishermen receive the benefit of this subsidy.
To facilitate fishermen’s access to diesel supply, new diesel sales centres have been opened at several additional jetties, which will help reduce the waiting time for fishermen to obtain diesel supply.
In Sabah, since there are no LKIM complexes, these diesel sales centres are managed by the Sandakan Fishermen’s Association at private jetties.
Therefore, while waiting for the new diesel sales centres to be fully operational, LKIM has increased diesel quotas at existing jetties to ensure continued sufficient supply.
The LKIM will continue to monitor the supply and usage of subsidised diesel to ensure adequate supply and prevent any leakages.
Recently, a peaceful demonstration was held in Kampung Pukat here attended by many fishing vessel operators affected by the issue of insufficient diesel supply quotas.
It is understood that the number of affected fishermen is more than 400 fishing vessel operators in the Sandakan who are facing difficulties going to sea due to this issue.
In this regard, LKIM is committed to continuing to provide support to the fishing community and ensuring sufficient diesel supply for the continuity of their operations.
