Coastal Fishermen’s Quality of Life in Kuala Dungun: A Study of Income and Household Expenditure

Abstract

This descriptive study aims at understanding the different aspects of the lives of fishermen. A preliminary study to gauge the household income and expenditure among fishermen in Kuala Dungun, Terengganu was undertaken in early 2020 through the use of interviews and a self-developed questionnaire. Respondents, ranging from different levels of the fishery profession were requested to complete a questionnaire which requires them to reveal their income and household expenditure. The findings of the study revealed the grim challenges faced by the fishermen in balancing their income and household expenditure. In the absence of any additional source of income, let alone savings, the fishermen relied their sustenance on their fishing activities to support their family. The average income earned by the respondents are below the poverty line while the majority of them recorded a much higher household expenditure than their income. Family size and higher living standards have continuously caught the fishermen in the web of debt and poverty, without any relief in sight.The study suggested that education can be used as an indicator of an individual's capabilities to manage life, thus lacking thereof, as is the case of the surveyed respondents, deprive them from being able to effectively fight poverty and improve their living conditions.