Over £1.4 million has been awarded to the English fishing industry from the European Fisheries Fund (EFF) and the Marine Management Organisation (MMO).
Around £767,000 of the funding has been awarded to processing companies, £437,000 for actions that will benefit groups working in the fishing industry and £245,000 towards a development in the aquaculture sector. The money, awarded to eight individual projects, will help safeguard over 120 jobs and could create up to 18 additional roles.
The total value of the projects, when other public and private sector match funding is included, is more than £3.3 million.
The biggest single award approved by the panel of judges was around £489,000 to Jaines and Son, a fish processing and wholesale company which currently employs approximately 30 people in Grimsby. The grant will help the company to relocate to a purpose built facility on the Europarc development to the west of the town.
Catherine Murphy, Programme Manager for the European Fisheries Fund in England, said:
“By backing the expansion of processing companies the EFF is not just helping to protect and create jobs for people directly employed by them but also helping local fishing fleets too. Supporting companies to increase their processing capacity and expand into new markets could in turn create more demand for local fisheries products.
“The funding is also being awarded to support the delivery of training courses for over 3,000 fishermen across the UK, which it is hoped will be of particular benefit in leading to a reduction in the number of accidents, fatalities and vessel losses in the UK fishing industry.”
