More than £1 million in grants has been awarded to the English fishing industry from the European Fisheries Fund.
Eight projects were approved by the first EFF Selection Panel held on 13 November, and a further five are likely to succeed if further information is forthcoming.
Safety for fishermen at sea gets a major up-grade with the RNLI awarded £250,000 to help get the Man Overboard Guardian system installed on over 650 vessels in England by the end of 2011.
At the other end of the latest EFF grant scale a £1,500 grant will help the Shellfish Association of Great Britain develop an adaptive management protocol to facilitate how shellfisheries can operate in European Marine Sites.
Another £150,000 goes to a Seafish project on collection of scientific data by fishermen using innovative technologies to capture evidence on their industry.
Ray Hedley, Chair of the England Selection Panel and Head of MFA’s Business Relations Team said: "I am delighted that we have got the programme up and running.
"Businesses now need to convert their expressions of interest into high quality applications. A facilitation team exists to assist. The EFF is a tool to support the industry in striving to be sustainable, profitable, well managed and internationally competitive."
The next EFF Selection Panel will be held on 28 January 2009. Applications to be considered by the panel must be received by 28 November 2008. Details are on the website at www.mfa.gov.uk
