KUALA LUMPUR, – The Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry today announced an additional 500 Class A fishing licences in an effort to encourage involvement of more youth in the industry.
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Its Minister Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub said the additional number of licences also took into account the criteria set out including the modernisation concept which currently being studied by the government.
“I would like to announce that I am willing to issue an additional 500 new Class A licences but with modernisation (in terms of vessels and equipment), and an value added as practiced in Norway.
“With these 500 new licences, I will make sure we will modernise (the industry) for a more exciting era.InshaAllah (God willing), it will attract young people to participate in the industry and to make a big return to our country,” he said.
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He said this in his reply to a supplementary question from Datuk Dr Abd Latiff Ahmad (PH-Mersing) who wanted to know if the ministry would conduct an audit to get more fishermen to receive the cost of living allowance (ESH).
Earlier, in his reply to Abd Latiff’s original question on the ministry’s efforts to ensure that fishermen in Tanjung Piai in Johor would not go ‘extinct’, Salahuddin said the ministry had implemented programmes and projects with a long-term impact to generate more income of the fishermen.
He said among the projects carried out were fish farming in high-density polyethylene cages; oyster breeding projects; agro-tourism projects (recreational fisheries and homestay); and the upgrading of the existing fishing jetty to increase the number of fish landing.– BERNAMA