Dozens Of Fishermen In Palangkaraya Smile, Get Boat Assistance From The City Government

PALANGKARAYA - The Fisheries Office of Palangkaraya City, Central Kalimantan Province handed over boat assistance to 21 fishermen in the local city.

"The 21 fishing fishermen who received assistance are in Tumbang Tahai Village and Habaring Hurung Village, Bukit Batu District," said Head of the Palangka Raya City Fisheries Service Ritadewi Indriarti in PalangkaRaya, as reported by Antara, Wednesday, September 22.

He explained that the funding for the boat assistance came from a special allocation fund from the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries in 2021.

"The boat that we have handed over has a capacity of 3 GT. In addition to the boat, we also provide environmentally friendly fishing gear, buoys and flashlights," said Indriarti.

He said that initially the request for boat assistance for fishing fishermen was spread across two sub-districts in "Kota Cantik". However, he continued, the ministry wants the assistance to be concentrated in one sub-district area and fishermen in the Bukit Batu sub-district have been selected to receive the program.

Symbolically, the handover of boat aid for 21 fishermen was carried out by the Mayor of Palangka Raya, Fairid Naparin, through the Deputy Mayor, Umi Mastikah, accompanied by the Head of the Fisheries Service, Ritadewi.

The handover of boat aid to capture fishermen was also coupled with training and socialization on the processing of fishery products.

This offline training was attended by 25 participants from five groups of marketing processing fish products in Palangka Raya in the beginner category. In addition, the participants were also educated on the importance of maintaining product quality, both from raw materials and hygienic production processes, product legality, product names, packaging to how to maximize marketing potential by utilizing technological developments.

"The marketing processing group for fish products that participated in this training also received business support equipment such as refrigerators and food dryers," he said.

Deputy Mayor of Palangka Raya Umi Mastikah after the symbolic handover hoped that the boat assistance could improve the ability of fishermen to maximize the utilization of fishery potential in the Capital Region of Central Kalimantan Province.

In addition, it is also expected to increase community participation in monitoring various waters in Palangka Raya City from various fishing practices that are not environmentally friendly.

"We hope that the various existing programs will be able to increase the competitiveness of fishermen so as to further improve the welfare and resilience of families in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic," he said.