A study on safety equipment on fishing vessels classes A,B,C and C2 at Kuala Terengganu

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to identify the necessary safety equipment carried by each fishing vessel according to class or fishing zone. Zones for fishing areas are split into Zone A, B, C, and C2. This research concentrates on the area of Kuala Terengganu. Discussions and interviews with the officers from the Department of Fisheries, Malaysia on the safety equipment of fishing vessel are held. Matters discussed are limited to the types of safety equipment available on each fishing vessel by class, classes or courses provided by the fishing training institutes to the fishermen and fishing vessel license renewals. Next, the project identifies the level of awareness of safety equipment on fishing vessels. Descriptive analyses of the survey are conducted in sections A, B and C, and discussed on the levels of awareness to get more precise results while achieving the objectives of the above study. Some 70 fishermen in Kuala Terengganu form the respondents and the majority of them have Lower Secondary Assessment certificate (PMR) and Malaysian Education Certificate (SPM). They are mostly of middle age between 31-35 years old with the majority of them acquiring fishing experience in the range of 6-10 years. Based on the distribution of the fishing zone, about 45.7% of total respondent from A Zone which is the highest and the crews have occupied the highest distribution of the types of work with 35.7°/o. About 17.1 % have been involved in accidents at sea and another 82.9% have not experienced in accidents. The level of knowledge on safety equipments among fishermen which can be represented the total percentage of reply YES was 67.1 % and reply NO was 32.9% where only 1.4% do not know the importance of safety equipments. Most of the safety equipments installed onboard fishing vessels were not enough and in poor condition. The installations of the safety equipment were not at correct places and they are sometimes located at positions that they are not easily accessible when required.