ICELAND: has the massive national bailout resulted in a fisheries subsidy?

According to Iceland's government website massive loans (compared to the size of this nation's economy) have been received from various sources. Here are the main funds received:

On November 19th the IMF approved Iceland’s request for a two year stand-by arrangement. Iceland will receive USD 2.1 billion from the IMF. Additional loans of up to USD 3 billion have been secured from Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Russia, and Poland. The Faroe Islands have announced that they would lend Iceland USD 50 million.

Another dramatic move by Iceland's authorities was to take control of the troubled banks , in particular of GLITNIR (before ISB), LANDESBANKI and KAUPTHING.

For the aforementioned banks a Norwegian study identified, back in 2005, the assets they held in Icelandic fishing companies.

I copy here the extracts of the studies detailing the stakes in fishing companies.

Landsbanki shareholding in Icelandic companies and financing in the fisheries sector

Landsbanki is still the major owner of the Icelandic Group seafood marketing company, which has a market value of about ISK 23 billion. The largest listed owners in the Icelandic Group (June 2005) are:

1. Burdaras hf. 20.8%
2. Landsbanki Islands 18.1%
3. Straumur Investment Bank 12.4%
4. Sund ehf. (Blue Ice Group) 12.3%
5. Landsbanki Luxemborg S.A. 9.3%

Burdaras is 50% owned by Landsbanki and Straumur Investment Bank is also partly owned by Landsbanki, as shown earlier.
It is generally perceived that Landsbanki does not plan large-scale involvement in the Icelandic Group as a long-term investment.
Landsbanki is indirectly the largest owner of Marel (Processing machinery), through Burdaras which owns 36.3% in Marel, but the bank also has a direct share of 4.1% in Marel.
Landsbanki is actively involved in financing a number of Icelandic fisheries companies, such as:

1. Brim hf - Fishing and processing. Large scale loan to new owners when Landsbanki sold this company.
2. Saeplast - Plastic tubs manufacturing. ISK 750 million financing in conversion of public to private company.
3. Visir - fishing and processing. ISK 4 billion loan for refinancing.
4. Lysi - cod liver oil processing. ISK 1,100 million financing of a new plant.

ISB Fisheries interests

The Bank’s international Seafood Industry Team is part of the Investment Banking Division and consists of corporate financiers, industry analysts, credit officers and dealers with many years’ experience. Fifteen specialists are currently listed on the team with a focus for different geographical areas, such as the US West Coast, South America, Scandinavia, and the United Kingdom.

The London Branch forms a part of the ISB Investment Banking Division. The principal business is corporate finance, which provides advice to clients when undertaking mergers and acquisitions.

The primary focus of business is the food sector - advising companies on transactions in the fisheries, food ingredients and packaged foods sectors.

1. Sig. Agustsson - ISB provided consultancy service on the acquisition of Hevico and arranged the financing when Sig. Agustsson in Iceland bought the Danish company recently. Hevico specialises in the manufacture of smoked trout and is the largest company in its field in Europe.
2. Eskja - ISB arranged for ISK 1,500 million leveraged buy-out and public to private conversion for Eskja (whitefish and pelagic fishing and processing).
3. Samherji - The bank arranged refinancing of Samherji (undisclosed amount)
4. Þorbjörn Fiskanes - The bank arranged leveraged buy-out for the company management (undisclosed amount).
5. Marel - The bank arranged refinancing of Marel (undisclosed amount).
6. Fram Foods - The bank provided ISK 500 million working capital for Fram Foods (Roe products and herring marinades).
7. HB Grandi - the bank provides long-term financing of HB Grandi.

Kaupthing Bank and the fisheries

Kaupthing is not involved in foreign fisheries companies but has large interests in Icelandic fish industry companies. It is a major shareholder in a few fish industry companies, most notably in the SIF Group and HB Grandi.
The five largest shareholders of the SIF Group (June 2005) are the following:

1. Vending Holding (formerly Ker) 28.70%
2. Kaupthing Bank 24.81%
3. Samvinn Pension Fund 5.81%
4. Arion nomine account 4.76%
5. Pension funds (Public employees) 3.95%

Olafur Olafsson, Chairman of the Board of SIF Group is a major owner of Vending Holding. Kaupthing thus owns a quarter of the shares in SIF directly but it was also the provider of EUR 280 million to SIF on the acquisition of the Labeyrie Group in France in late 2004. (It may be noted that the Chairman of SIF is also a significant owner of Kaupthing Bank through Egla Holding).

Kaupthing Bank is also a 30% shareholder in the fish-roe producer Fram Foods, which split off from Bakkavor Group in 2003 (see also under Landsbanki).
The bank is a significant shareholder in HB Grandi (14.4%) and recently financed the purchase and technical modification of the company’s pelagic-processing vessel, which is the largest in the fleet.

Kaupthing Bank was a major provider of finance for Samherji on acquisition of the seafood processing company Pickenpack Hussmann & Hahn in Germany.

Just lately, Kaupthing Bank has refinanced Iceland Seafood International, which was split from the SIF Group and is now only in minority shareholding (45%) of SIF.

The text of the Norwegian report can be found at the following link:

http://www.fiskerifond.no/files/projects/attach/icelandic_bank_report.pdf

NORWAY: more subsidies for cod

The Norwegian Minister for Fisheries and Coastal Affairs, Ms Pedersen, announced on 21 March 2009 more subsidies to support marketing efforts for cod. An additional NOK 5 million (USD 734,000) to the NOK 11.5 million (USD 1,7 million) that was granted in in February 2009.

The funds will be entrusted to the Norwegian Seafood Export Council.

The official announcement (in Norwegian) can be found in this webpage:

http://www.regjeringen.no/nb/dep/fkd/pressesenter/pressemeldinger/2009/ytterligere-okning-i-markedsforingsinnsa.html?id=550523

USA: Ron KIRK (new USTR) on fisheries subsidies

Here are the written answers provided by Ron Kirk, the new US Trade Representative, to the "FINANCE COMMITTEE QUESTIONS FOR THE RECORD" put at the confirmation hearing held on 9 March 2009:

Questions from Chairman Baucus:

Question 23:

Global fisheries are being rapidly depleted, and environmentally harmful subsidies in many countries contribute to their decline. The United States has been a leader in the WTO negotiations aimed at ending harmful fishing subsidies. Will you continue to take a leadership role in these negotiations?

Answer: Yes

Questions from Senator Grassley :

Question 14(ii):

The President’s Trade Policy Agenda also states that we need to ask how trade policycan address the depletion of fisheries. The World Trade Organization is already addressing the issue of fisheries subsidies in theDoha Development Round trade negotiations, and the United States has been an activeparticipant in those negotiations for many years. Do you have additional ideas for how the Administration could address the fisheries issue?

Answer: My understanding is that WTO negotiations have made some progress on this issue. I will be reviewing the fisheries aspects of those negotiations and will look forward to working with you to consider other approaches as well.

When reading these replies I was struck by two things: the first is the "laconic" reply to the question by Senator Baucus. The second is the very intriguing end of the second sentence to Senator Grassley's question. What does Mr Kirk mean by "[...] and will look forward to working with you to consider other approaches as well."?

Here is the link to the document with the written answers:

http://finance.senate.gov/hearings/testimony/2009test/031109QFRs%20for%20SubmissionRK.pdf

NORWAY: subsidies for vessels hunting for seals

On 4 March 2009 the Norwegian Ministry for Fisheries and Coastal Affairs announced the allocation of NOK 13 million (USD 2 million) among the 4 vessels still active in the seal hunt.

Here is the link to the official announcement (in Norwegian):

http://www.regjeringen.no/nb/dep/fkd/aktuelt/nyheter/2009/nye-ordninger-for-norsk-selfangst.html?id=547911

Interesting to note is that, according to "Statistisk sentralbyrå" (Statistics Norway), the total number of seals hunted by Norwegian vessels amounted to 14,043 individuals, for a total value of NOK 2,542,000 (USD 400,000). This would mean that seal hunting receives 5 times the value of the production.

Hereunder is the link to a table (in Norwegian) from the 2008 Statistic Yearbook showing the figures on seal hunting in Norway:

http://www.ssb.no/aarbok/tab/tab-375.html

NORWAY: hundreds of millions of krona for fisheries specific infrastucture

The Norwegian Ministry for Fisheries and Coastal Affairs announced on 13 March 2009 a large and generous investment plan to improve fisheries infrastructure.

According to the press release by the Norwegian government, a total amount of NOK 2 billion (USD 314 million) will be spent for fisheries’ infrastructure projects over the period 2010-2019.

More information on the programme, including the detailed breakdown of expenditure per fishing port, can be found at the following web pages (in Norwegian):


http://www.regjeringen.no/nb/dep/fkd/pressesenter/pressemeldinger/2009/kraftig-satsing-pa-sjotransport-og-marit.html?id=549156

http://www.regjeringen.no/nb/dep/fkd/tema/sjotransport_og_kystforvaltning/ntp-2010-2019---fylkesvis-fordeling-av-f.html?id=549166#

BRAZIL: more subsidies to fisheries and aquaculture

This is how you could translate into English the new programme “Mais Pesca e Aquicultura” ("More fisheries and launched last year by President Lula da Silva. The objective is to boost fish production in Brazil. The initiative integrates explicit targets to be reached by 2011, such as the increase of fish production by 40%, i.e. from 1 million tonnes in 2008 to 1.4 million tonnes in 2011, or the construction of up to 20 landing facilities for fishermen.

This initiave is a framework that includes, or will include, a number of subsidy programmes to help the Brazilian fisheries and aquculture industries. Examples are: fuel subsidies for 18 million Reales (USD 7.8 million) for 2.230 vessels or financing, in cooperation with the Ministry of Transport for the construction of fish landing terminals.

Other instruments that the Brazilian governement will use to channel the funds to fishermen are:

• the "MODERAGRO" programme (CUSTEIO PECUÁRIO TRADICIONAL) providing funds for purchase of fuel, lubricants, ice, bait, nets, hooks, labour-costs, insurance, taxes, freight, or maintenance and modernisation of vessels. Through this programme beneficiaries could receive up to 300.000 Reales (USD 131,000) aid.
• the "FUNDO CONSTITUCIONAL DE FINANCIAMENTO DO NORTE – (FNO)"
• the "FUNDO CONSTITUCIONAL DO NORDESTE – (AQÜIPESCA)"

More information on the above initiative and programmes can be obtained at:

http://tuna.seap.gov.br/seap/html/Plano%20de%20Desenvolvimento/plano_desenvolvimento.html

USA: fisheries subsidies negotiations in Mr Obama's 2009 Trade policy Agenda

Here-under is the extract of the "2009 Trade Policy Agenda and 2008 Annual Report of the President of the United States on the Trade Agreements Program" where the new Administration set out its priorities for the year 2009:

Prospects for 2009

In 2009, the United States will continue to pursue an aggressive affirmative agenda building upon the U.S. proposals submitted thus far with respect to, inter alia, preserving the effectiveness of the trade remedy rules; improving transparency and due process in trade remedy proceedings; and strengthening the existing subsidies rules. Concerning fisheries subsidies, the United States will continue to press for an ambitious outcome and work to further improve and refine many of the provisions included in the Chair’s draft text. (p. 14)

Ii is interesting to see how nuanced (and moderate) the text is, in tone and in content.

The full text of the document can be found at the USTR's website.

http://www.ustr.gov/Document_Library/Reports_Publications/2009/2009_Trade_Policy_Agenda/Section_Index.html

MALAYSIA: more subsidies to fishermen

As part of its second economic stimulus package the Mlaysian government has decided to help fishermen affected by disasters at sea by setting-up a Fishermen's Welfare Fund with an initial allocation of RM2 million (or USD .54 million), which would be managed by Lembaga Kemajuan Ikan Malaysia (the Fisheries Development Authority of Malaysia).

Here are links to news articles on this Fund:

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Wednesday/National/2501685/Article/index_html

http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v3/news.php?id=395159

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/3/11/minibudget/20090311074124&sec=minibudget

USA: NGO reactions to the report on US subsidies to fisheries

In some of the post in this blog I have discussed reactions from NGO’s to important events and/or documents related to fisheries subsidies.

As mentioned in my previous post, a few days ago a substantive report was released by the Lenfest Foundation at the Pew Charitable Trust on the subsidies provided by public authorities to the fisheries industry, in the United Sates.

I find most surprising that two prominent US NGO’s, WWF and OCEANA, have not said a word on this report.

USA: "fifty-six percent of fishing industry direct subsidies in the U.S. could be considered harmful to fisheries"

This is a quote from the press release by the Pew Charitable Trust that presents the main findings of a study by Renee Sharp, director of Environmental Working Group's California Office and renowned fisheries economist Ussif Rahid Sumaila, director of the Fisheries Centre at the University of British Columbia. The study also found that subsidies amounted to 21 percent of the $31 billion U.S. commercial fish harvest between 1996 and 2004.

Concerning fuel subsidies the study suggests that 44 percent of federal and state subsidies support fuel costs.

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has also published a summary of the study on its website.

Here are the links to the Pew Charitable Trust's press release and to the wepage of theEWG's California Offfice:

http://www.pewtrusts.org/news_room_detail.aspx?id=49752

http://www.ewg.org/fishing-subsidies

NORWAY: grants for young fishermen

Minister for Fisheries and Coastal Affairs has decided to allocate 30 grants amounting to NOK 250.000 (USD 36,000) each to enable young fishermen to establish thelselves as boat owners and enter the fishery.

Here is the link to the offical press release in Norwegian):

http://www.regjeringen.no/nb/dep/fkd/pressesenter/pressemeldinger/2009/etablerer-stipendordning-og-deltakeradga.html?id=546894

MEXICO: subsidies in sight for the Mexican fleet?

In the past weeks Mexican fishermen having been staging protests against price increases in diesel. Some of them had even threatened to block oil installation of PEMEX, the Mexican oil company.

The actions by fishermen were ended after representatives from government and from fishermen signed a memorandum of undertanding on 31 january 2009. The memorandum contained a number of provisions whereby money will be provided by the government for scrapping of vessels.

Eventhough the detailed content of the memorandum of understanding, the press has quoted representatives of the fishermen as saying that a total of 170 million Mexican Pesos (11.7 million USD) will be paid to fishermen for scrapping of vessels.

Here is the link to the press release by the government (in Spanish):

http://www.presidencia.gob.mx/prensa/sagarpa/?contenido=41976

This is a link to a press article with statements from the fishermen representatives:

http://www.poresto.net/campeche/19750--retiraran-mas-barcos

NORWAY: millions of Norwegian krona for the fishing industry

After a few hesitations the Norwegian Government is putting in place a number of measures to help the fishing industry in Norway.

One of the measures consists of a government subsidy of 11.5 million Norwegian Krona (or 1.7 million USD) for the marketing of cod products in Portugal, Spain, Sweden, France but also in Norway.

Another major measure is the establishment of a guarantee fund amounting to 525 million Norwegian Krona (77.2 million USD) for the "first sale" of fish.

More information can be found in the following webpages (in Norwegian):

Guarantee fund:

http://www.regjeringen.no/nb/dep/fkd/pressesenter/pressemeldinger/2009/ny-ordning-for-garantier-til-fiskerinari.html?id=545107

Marketing of cod:

http://www.regjeringen.no/nb/dep/fkd/pressesenter/pressemeldinger/2009/ekstraordinar-markedsinnsats-for-torsk.html?id=544864

ARGENTINA: prohibition to transport unprocessed fish outside the Chubut Province

The Province of Chubut in Argentina adopted a new fisheries law in July 2007, the "Ley unificada de Pesca".

This legislation includes a number of interesting provisions. The most salient, in my view, is that it prohibits the transport, outside the Province, of unprocessed fish. Indeed, Article 37 bars the holders of a Provincial fishing license from shipping raw material to operators outside the Province, unless provided for in inter-Provincial agreements.

One of the main objectives of such provisions is make sure that there is a processing industry in the coastal areas adjacent to the fishing grounds. Because fishermen are obliged to deliver the raw material in these areas processing companies might benefit from more abundant fish and therefore pay lower prices for their raw material.

Is this a subsidy?

This brings to my mind two cases, one in the context of the GATT, the other at the WTO, involving Canada and the US in relation to restrictions on exports. In the first one, the US complained because Canada introduced export prohibitions of unprocessed herring, herring roe, and pink and sockeye salmon. The second case concerned a complaint by Canada about certain US measures that treat a restraint on exports of a product as a subsidy to other products made using or incorporating the restricted product if the domestic price of the restricted product is affected by the restraint.

Here in the link to the webpage of the official website of the Chubut Province displaying the contents of the legislation (in Spanish):

http://www.legischubut.gov.ar/LEY5639.htm

Philippines: seeking to conclude fisheries agreements with Palau and PNG

The termination of the country’s bilateral fishing access with Indonesia that lapsed two years ago has had negative consequences for Philippino companies.

Indeed, the five-year bilateral fishing agreement between the Philippines and Indonesia ended in December 2005, but was extended until the end of 2006. Under that bilateral fishing agreement, Philippine tuna fleets were allowed to "catch tuna and tuna-like species within the Indonesian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). It provided licenses to the Philippines for 75 catcher vessels, 150 fish carriers, 20 long liners, 300 light boats, and 10 single purse seiners, as well as allowed access to the Pacific and Indian Ocean areas of the Indonesian EEZ. The same pact also provided offloading and re-supply access to 10 Indonesian ports.

Government officials and businessmen from the Philippines are now approaching Palau and Papua New Guinea to explore the possibility of concluding fisheries agreements to relocate the fleet that can not longer benefit from the Indonesia agreement.

It is interesting to see that government officials ae involved in the search for a replacement for the Indonesia arrangement. Does this mean that the agreements with Palau and PNG, if any, will be more than granting private licenses to Philippino fishermen?

Here is a link to an official press release (Philippine Information Agency) dated 6 January 2009 on this matter:

http://www.pia.gov.ph/default.asp?m=12&fi=p090106.htm&no=44

WTO: position of INDIA at the ongoing negotiations on fisheries subsidies. Comments by Oceana

When reading the piece of news on India's subsidy programme for tuna fisheries I remembered that India, supported by China and Indonesia has pressed very hard for far reaching exceptions to subsidy disciplines at the ongoing WTO negotiations on fisheries subsidies.

I quote here an article by the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) published on 25 July 2008, while the (failed) WTO Mini-Ministerial meeeting was in progress.

Proposal by China, India and Indonesia

The latest proposal on fisheries subsidies was tabled on 21 July by China, India and Indonesia during the ongoing ministerial meeting in Geneva (TN/C/W/51). Trade ministers are currently convened in an attempt to reach a compromise in WTO negotiations on agriculture and non-agricultural market goods (see related story, this issue). While fisheries subsidies are not on the ministerial agenda, they are considered to be an important facet of the Doha development round.

The proposal emphasises the importance of special and differential treatment for developing countries given the particular importance of fisheries for livelihoods, poverty reduction and food security. More specifically, China, India and Indonesia call for exemptions from subsidies disciplines for developing country small and artisanal fishermen, as well as fisheries infrastructure and capital and operating costs.

The sponsors of this recent submission tabled the last proposal discussed in the fisheries negotiations. Much of the substance of the new proposal was covered in discussion on their previous proposal. For this reason, sources have commented that it is unclear when the opportunity to talk about the recent paper will arise or what value it will add to negotiations.While Courtney Sakai, campaigner for environmental group Oceana, called the tabling at the ministerial “misplaced,” others assume that the intent of the sponsors was to raise the profile of the capacity constraints and particular vulnerabilities of developing countries in the fisheries subsidies negotiations.

The aforementioned article by ICTSD can be found here:

http://ictsd.net/i/environment/14326/

INDIA: converting 1.000 vessels to tuna long liners

The Indian press has echoed the initiative of the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) convert 1,000 fishing vessels to tuna long liners.

To this end MPEDA has put in place schemes providing subsidies for conversion of existing fishing vessels to tuna long liners, interest subsidy for resource-specific tuna long liners.

The author of the The Hindu's article over the subsidy programme for tuna fishing says:

It is expected that India will have a very large efficient and effective fleet of tuna long liners by 2012 and become one of the world leaders in the supply of tuna especially the high value tuna.

The full text of the article can be found here:

http://www.hindu.com/2009/01/11/stories/2009011154891300.htm

For those interested in the currently available subsidy programmes in India hereunder is the link to the MPEDA website with information on 28 fisheries and fish farming related subsidy programmes.

http://www.mpeda.com/inner_home.asp?pg=subsidy/subsidy.htm

PAKISTAN: Actionaid report "Taking the fish"

During this holiday period I have done a little bit of desk research on NGO positions' on the WTO Doha negotiations relating to fishing issues.

Yesterday I came accross a report prepared by the charity "Actionaid" in the framework of its "Trade justice" campaign. According to Actionaid:

"The report - Taking the Fish – claims poor fishing communities in developing countries worldwide could be devastated by moves to open up fishing markets as part of the latest World Trade Organisation talks.

Pakistani fisher groups say trawlers from China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan already encroach on their local waters and use giant fishing nets to scoop up and deplete fish stocks under Pakistan’s policy of opening up its waters to international fleets."

On page 6 the reader will find a section titled "WTO threat". I copy here under its contents:

"WTO threat

Serious new threats to further liberalise fishing trade in developingcountries and open up fisheries services sectors to foreigncompetition are emerging in the currentWTO global trade talks.WTO negotiations underway on subsidies and non-agriculturalmarket access (or NAMA) could:

(i) completely eliminate all tariffs in the fish and fish productssector (as has been proposed by Canada, Iceland, New Zealand,Norway, Singapore and Thailand)

(ii) significantly reduce tariffs in all sectors, including fish and fishproducts, if an agressive tariff-cutting 'Swiss formula' is applied toall industrial and natural resource sectors (the extent of such cutsis currently the focus of negotiations within the WTO)

(iii) discipline fishing subsidies in poor countries through on-goingtalks in the WTO Negotiating Group on Rules.

While the NAMA and subsidies negotiations have beenhighlighted, new moves to effectively ‘lock in’ essentially irreversible commitments to liberalise ‘services incidental to fishing’are now also being made in the currentWTO GATSnegotiations."

Here is the link to the page of the website of Actionaid where the report is presented:

http://www.actionaid.org/main.aspx?PageID=573

USA: NGO's reactions to the December 2008 WTO text on fisheries subsidies

Going through the websites from NGOs reacting to the "roadmap" for further negotiations issued by the Chair of the WTO Negotiating Group on "Rules" on 19 December 2008 I found that only Oceana had issued a press release.

The author of the release, Courtney Sakay, stressed the importance of the WTO as fisheries subsidies’ negotiations as:

"one of the most important international efforts to stop global overfishing".

In a previous press release by Oceana (issued at the occasion of the 5th World Fisheries Congress in Yokohama in October 2008) the WTO Ms Sakai stated that:

"A key solution for addressing global overfishing is not found through traditional fisheries management, but through trade." and that "The science community has identified reducing subsidies as one of the most significant actions to combat global overfishing. The WTO negotiations provide the best opportunity to stop overfishing subsidies."

Here are the links to the aforementioned press releases by Oceana:

"WTO Members Urged to Fulfill their Commitment to Stop Overfishing Subsidies"

http://oceana.org/north-america/media-center/press-releases/press_release/0/923

"Oceana Reveals Unlikely Source for Addressing Global Overfishing to World’s Leading Scientists and Academia"

http://www.oceana.org/north-america/media-center/press-releases/all-press-releases/press_release/1/890/

Malaysia: changes in fuel subsidies for fishermen

In Malaysia the government provides fishermen with subsidised fuel.

The government decided, effective 5 June 2008, to "streamline" the price of diesel (for fishermen and vessel owners) at RM1.43 (US$ 0.41) per litre. Before the price of diesel for fishermen was RM1 (US$ 0.30) per litre and for vessel owners buy the proce was RM1.20 per litre.

Though the government provided some relief to the above categories of users and agreed to pay in cash a portion of the difference in the old and new prices to fishermen and vessel owners, as follows:

- Payment of RM200 (US$ 58) cash monthly to every owner and crew of Malaysian-owned vessels registered with the Fisheries Department.
- Payment of incentives to vessel owners at the rate of 10 sen per kg of fish landed by approved fishing vessels at fish landing centres in the country.

The payments are managed by the Malaysian Fisheries Development Authority.

Thereafter, effective Dec 16, the price of subsidised diesel and petrol for fishermen was reduced reduced from RM1.43 per litre to RM1.30 per litre. Accordng to the goverment with new price, the government would have to bear additional cost of about RM197 million (US$ 57 million) nnually.

At the same time the government maintains the RM200 monthly cost of living allowance for fishing vessel operators and fishermen on licensed vessels as with the incentive of 10 sen per kg given for the catch landed.

The reduction in price of subsidised diesel and petrol would mean savings in fuel cost of RM260-RM4,160 monthly depending on the fishing zone and vessel size."Traditional net vessels operating in Zone A (up to 5 nautical miles) will save RM260 monthly, dragnet vessels in Zone B (5-12 nautical miles) will save RM2,600 monthly."Dragnet vessels in Zone C (12-30 nautical miles) will save RM3,120 monthly and dragnet vessels in Zone C2 (over 30 nautical miles) will save RM4,160 monthly.

Furthermore the authorities have on 3 November 2008 increased the subsidised diesel and petrol quota from 106 million litre monthly to 126 million litre to accommodate the issuance of 15,900 new fishing vessel licences by the Fisheries Department."Following requests from dragnet vessel operators, the government also approved additional quota of 4,000 litres monthly to vessels fishing in Zone C dan C2."He said the price reduction and additional diesel and petrol quota should give fishermen higher returns due to the costs saved.

Here are the links to the official press releases:

http://www.pmo.gov.my/?menu=newslist&news_id=113&news_cat=13&page=1731&sort_year=&sort_month=

http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsgeneral.php?id=378070