Fishing communities across the UK will benefit from better infrastructure, strengthened supply chains, new jobs and an investment in skills thanks to a £75 million boost for the sector announced by UK Government.
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"The investment will strengthen the sector’s ability to land more fish in the UK and take them to market faster. This will be achieved by improving the capacity and efficiency of our harbours and processing facilities while boosting the long-term sustainability of the fishing industry and supporting jobs, increasing opportunities for coastal communities and levelling up across the country," the government said.
"A £65 million infrastructure scheme will be made available for projects such as modernising ports and harbours alongside increasing capacity and efficiency at processing and aquaculture facilities. A competition will be run to identify the best projects, prioritising those that reduce carbon emissions, helping increase the sustainability of the sector and contributing towards the UK’s commitment to reach Net Zero by 2050.
"Up to £10 million will also be used to encourage new entrants into the processing, catching and aquaculture sectors, alongside training and upskilling current workers. We will do this by offering an improved package of training to people joining the industry and making it easier for people from coastal communities to progress through their career.
"The two funding schemes are the second and third parts of the £100 million UK Seafood Fund designed to level up coastal communities across the UK.
"The investment will ensure the industry and coastal communities are equipped to benefit from additional quota gained as a result of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) signed last year with the EU. Following our departure from the Common Fisheries Policy, there have been uplifts in quota for UK vessels, with the value of UK-EU fishing opportunities for the UK in 2021 totalling approximately £333 million," says the government.
A further £1 million will be dedicated to promoting UK seafood.
Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Michael Gove, said: "This multi-million pound investment will have a real and tangible impact on coastal communities across country and the UK fish industry. It will support the creation of jobs and training opportunities that will help put the industry on a sure footing for the future.nWe are working hard to boost local communities and spread opportunity to every corner of the country as we level up the nation."
In a further move to ensure that fishing communities reap the benefits of Brexit, the package of measures known as the ‘economic link’, also includes increasing the minimum percentage of UK crew members that must be on board vessels to 70%, creating more job opportunities for UK residents. It will contribute to the financial boost to the local economies in fishing communities.
The amount of fish that must be landed in the UK after it is caught will rise from 50 to 70%, meaning more fish being sold and processed in the UK. Vessels that do not meet the landing or crewing requirement will be required to donate quota that provides valuable extra fishing opportunities to the inshore fleet. This will be increased from 16.5% to 20% in 2022 and we will seek to increase the current threshold over time. ■