June 2, 2010

English fishing firms receive US$1.47-million funding             

Grants worth almost GBP1 million (US$1.47 million) have been awarded to a number of English fishing companies from the European Fisheries Fund (EFF) and Marine Management Organisation, formerly the Marine and Fisheries Agency.

The largest single grant totalled more than GBP422,000 (US$619,997) for a new fryline extension at a seafood company in Newton Abbot, Devon.

The project, costing more than GBP1 million (US$1.47 million) in total including private funding, will see the installation of new equipment for frying and freezing fish. It will also increase the amount of locally sourced fish processed from ports in Devon and Cornwall.

But there is help for the aquaculture industry as well with a tilapia farm in rural Lincolnshire receiving more than GBP165,000 (US$242,388) towards a modernisation programme. A number of Lincolnshire farmers are now turning to fish farming as a means of boosting income.

EFF grants, which generally have to be match funded, are designed to support the restructuring that has become necessary as the fisheries sector has developed, and English fishing projects alone have benefited or are set to benefit by around GBP38 million (US$56 million) in the period 2007 to 2013.

A few months ago Grimsby received around GBP3 million (US$4.4 million) from the EFF and the UK government to help build a new fish processing park and towards modernising the fish market.