INCOMES and catches for coastal fisherman have started to improve due to the successes chalked up by government action against foreign vessels, said the Agriculture and Agro-based Ministry.

Also, the expansion of fishermen’s markets have allowed them to sell directly to retailers and consumers, cutting out middlemen and improving their profits, said minister Salahuddin Ayub.

Salahuddin said in the last six months of Ops Naga, some 220 foreign boats mostly from Vietnam, have been seized and many of them destroyed in Malaysian waters.

These vessels, operating illegally within 60km from shore, have long been a bane for local fishermen and fish stocks such as kembong and mabong.   

This is since such boats are usually larger than what has been permitted and they use trawl nets that destroy coral and fish breeding grounds.

But the drop in these vessels has meant that the fish stocks are slowly recovering and there are more of them for local fishermen, said Salahuddin.

“From my visits to Mersing, Kemaman, the fishermen tell me their catches have increased in the last three months before the monsoon season. So Ops Naga is working,” he told reporters at his ministry today.

“I will ask the prime minister to extend the duration of the ops by the Maritime Enforcement Agency.”

He added that the ministry will increase the number of fishermen’s markets from the 129 that are now being held all over the country.

“The markets have also begun to achieve the objectives that were set for it, to cut out the middleman in the supply chain and to give good prices to both fishermen families and their children.” – January 6, 2020.