Boats to be equipped with Vessel Locating Devices before granting subsidy

Ministry of Fisheries has made three suggestions to Financial Committee on how to give the Rf 100 million assigned in the state budget as subsidies to fishermen.

Fisheries Ministry has proposed to give ice and fuel, and also the installation of a Vessel Locating Device (VLD) on dhonis, as subsidies. The purpose of this device is to ensure that the dhonis have been fishing.

For the 1058 registered dhonis in Maldives, Rf 76.5 million will be given as fuel subsidy, Rf 12.721 million as ice subsidy, and Rf 7.1 million to install VLDs.

Fisheries Ministry had also proposed to cover 19 percent of every vessel’s fuel cost based on its horsepower, and to cover 7.5 percent of the ice bought by each vessel.

The documents submitted by Fisheries Ministry to Financial Committee indicate that ice subsidy is necessary to hold the fish fresh – a large quantity of ice is necessary to hold the catch fresh until it reaches the buyer.

They also proposed to provide loans to establish more ice plants in different regions of Maldives.

Fisheries Ministry has been in discussion with Dhiraagu regarding the installation of VLDs on vessels. The cost of installing one VLD is about $500 (Rf 7800), which would bring the total cost for 1058 vessels to Rf 8,252,400. No subsidy will be given to vessels without VLDs.

Fisheries Ministry indicated that the only way to ensure that dhonis were out fishing before granting them subsidies is to install VLDs on them. This is especially important after the 2010 audit report noted that this was not monitored before subsidies were given.

Members of the Committee presented various ideas after Fisheries Ministry made its suggestions regarding subsidies.

Maafannu Hulhan’gu MP Abdullah Abdul Raheem said that the 2012 budget is about to be revised and submitted to the Parliament; to make a decision on subsidies to fishermen before this is done may create problems.

The Financial Committee set up a sub-committee to assess the issue of subsidies, which will submit its decision on the issue to Financial Committee during this week. The sub-committee is made up of one independent member, and one member of each political party represented in the Financial Committee.