Photo by Salim Matramkot © The Peninsula
Doha: The Ministry of Municipality and Environment, represented by the Agriculture and Fisheries Affairs Sector, signed a joint cooperation agreement with Qatar Fuel Company (WOQOD) and ice factories, to provide support to fishermen and ship owners with supplying fuel, ice blocks and crushed ice to reduce cost of fishing.
The program aims to supply ice blocks for 480 active fishing ships and crushed ice for 350 fishing boats. In addition, they will also be provided fuel and the programme will be for a period of three years from 2021.
Assistant Undersecretary of Agriculture and Fisheries Affairs at the Ministry of Municipality and Environment HE Sheikh Dr Faleh bin Nasser Al-Thani, stated that this package provided by the Ministry to fishermen of ships and fishing boats is one of many initiatives launched by the Ministry to support fishing inputs, encourage workers in this field to continue and strengthen the ministry’s strategy to achieve product quality and reduce fish losses, and to contribute in the country’s food security.
He also stressed that the Ministry seeks to satisfy all elements of the production process, starting with the fisherman and ending with consumer, and to ensure an appropriate price for all these parties.
MME is working on implementing a programme to support owners of fishing ships and boats that aims to preserve the quality and safety of fish and fish products to lower the production costs for owners of fishing ships and boats and incentivize them to keep their professions.
Fuel subsidies will be provided to fishermen - diesel to fishing ships and regular petrol to fishing boats - and WOQOD will install electronic chips on fuel tanks for all ships and boats approved by the Fisheries Department.
The department will renew the approved list the names and licenses numbers of ships and boats that meet the conditions required to benefit from the fuel subsidy and the quantities of subsidized fuel required to be provided for each of them each year.
Refuelling will be limited only from stations located in the main fishing ports, and subsidized fuel is only refuelled inside fuel tanks installed in fishing ships and boats and may not be filled in mobile plastic containers, and the use of subsidized fuel is not allowed to supply cars, trucks or any purpose other than fishing vessels and boats, and the Fisheries Department has the right to stop the support in case of non-compliance with the relevant regulating conditions and rules.
Requirements for owners of fishing boats wishing to be beneficiaries:
1- A valid fishing permit
2- Verifiable number of sea trips. Each boat must have no less than 84 trips in the year the subsidies are granted.
3- The applicant must be adhering to the laws and regulations regarding living aquatic resources and hasn’t committed a violation during the preceding year from the date on which the application is submitted.
4-All boats must exclusively use the main ports (Al Wakra, Doha, Al Khor, Al Thakhira, and Al Ruwais) for entry and exit
Requirements for owners of fishing ships wishing to be beneficiaries:
1- A valid fishing permit
2- Verifiable number of sea trips. Each ship must have at least two trips per month and a total of 24 trips in the year preceding the date of submitting the request for support.
3- The applicant must be adhering to the laws and regulations regarding living aquatic resources and hasn’t committed a violation during the preceding year from the date on which the application is submitted.
4-All boats must exclusively use the main ports (Al Wakra, Doha, Al Khor, Al Thakhira, and Al Ruwais) for entry and exit
