INEQUALITY OF PROFIT SHARING SYSTEM IN FISHING BUSINESS IN KUALA MARANG, MARANG, TERENGGANU

Abstract

Most fishermen worldwide, including in Kuala Marang, prefer the profitsharing system than fixed pay. However, profit-sharing is said to be unfair as it exploits the fishing crew and causes an income gap between the fishing boat owners and ordinary crew, which is one of the reasons why there are rich and poor fishermen. This research studied the inequality in fishermen’s profit-sharing system between vessel owners and crew. Qualitative method were used, where 89 fishermen in Kuala Marang were randomly selected by Slovin’s formula for interview. By descriptive analysis, the detailed patterns of the profit-sharing system. This study found four main types of fishing gears used: purse seine, gill net, hook and lines, and traps. While there were two patterns of profit-sharing practiced for each gear. This analysis shows that the profit-sharing system causes income inequality as all vessel owners gained a far higher profit than the crews. For purse seine, the owner, captain, operator and crew with profit-sharing Pattern 1 received profit of 50%, 5%, 5% and 3.33%, respectively while those with Pattern 2 received 52%, 8.5%, 3.8% and 2.5% respectively. For gill net, the owner and crew with Pattern 1 received profit of 66.67% and 33.33% respectively while those with Pattern 2 received 75% and 25% respectively. Hook and lines owners and crews with Pattern 1 of profit sharing received profit of 40% and 30% respectively while those with Pattern 2 received 66.67% and 16.67% respectively. Trap owners and crews with Pattern 1 of profit sharing received profit of 50% and 12.5% respectively while those with Pattern 2 received 33.33% and 16.67% respectively. This research also concluded that policy imperfections contribute to the inequality in the profitsharing system.