KOTA BARU: Fishermen in Kampung Pulau Gajah, Sabak in Pengkalan Chepa here, have begun making preparations, including bringing their boats to shore, with the arrival of the north-east monsoon when fishing activities are no longer safe due to the rough seas.

       Some 40 fishermen got together in a “gotong-royong” to get their boats onto dry land to prevent them from being damaged by the powerful waves, according to a Bernama report.

       The head of the Pulau Gajah Fishing Community, Nik Ruzulaili Nik Yusoff, said it would be dangerous to go out to sea during the monsoon.

       “But the boats cannot be left on the beach because the strong waves can damage them. So, they have to be pulled ashore, which we do manually by dragging them,” he said, adding that they had pulled up nine boats.

       There are about 40 boats owned by the fishermen in the village.

       “We all agreed to bring the boats ashore because we cannot go to sea as the unpredictable weather is not safe for us,” he said yesterday.

       Nik Ruzulaili said they had a special technique to pull up the boats to shore.

       “Round pieces of wood are first placed under the boat, which is then pulled or dragged manually by us using a rope tied to it (boat),” he said.

       He said the process of pulling the boat was normally done as early as 7am to take advantage of the morning tide.

       “Otherwise, when the water has receded, it will be a task to pull up the boat to the shore,” he added.

       He said the monsoon season was the time fishermen would take a break and look for other jobs, including as construction workers, for income.

       Mohd Rizuwan Ramli, 40, however spends the off-season repairing fishing boats.

       The fishermen would return to the sea again in February.