The scheme, which was launched in April, has paid out grants of \u00a35.6 million to assist seafood processors impacted by the collapse of international markets and the shutdown of the UK\u2019s food service industry due to COVID-19.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic on the market for seafood was immediate and severe. In response we have put in place a range of support, including the Seafood Resilience Fund, which was set up to protect the processing companies that form such a crucial part of our coastal economies,\u201d said Scotland\u2019s Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am pleased that we have been able to support 128 companies through the scheme, and I know that \u2013 although times continue to be difficult \u2013 these funds have made a difference. The Scottish Government will continue to work with our seafood sector to provide targeted support and guidance as we begin to carefully move towards the safe restart of the economy. As we begin to consider how to recover from the impact of the pandemic, it will be important to explore how to build greater resilience and more local opportunities for people in Scotland and the UK to enjoy our fantastic seafood.\u201d<\/p>\n
Applications for the Seafood Resilience Fund have now closed. Other COVID-19 funds that have been assisting the fishing industry include the Sea Fisheries Intervention Fund supporting vessel owners, and the Aquaculture Hardship Fund to help shellfish and trout farmers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would say the timing of this fund and the speed in which it was paid – so soon after the application went in – was vital,\u201d commented Stephen Thomson of JK Thomson – a seafood processor based in Musselburgh, East Lothian, which received a \u00a3100,000 grant through the scheme.
\u201cWhen we filled in the application form, things appeared to be very bleak, and to know the Scottish Government was behind us was very comforting, and gave us great encouragement.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Jimmy Buchan of the Scottish Seafood Association (SSA), they are very appreciative of the speed and delivery of the resilience fund for the processing sector.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis has saved several businesses from failure. By and large, the COVID-19 shutdown affected most Scottish processors, and without the fast action of the Scottish Government would have led to job losses right across the seafood supply chain,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Scottish Government, along with the Rural Economy Secretary, actively engaged with the SSA during the industry\u2019s most important hour of need. There is still much work to be done, with the SSA actively engaged with all in the supply chain.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A total of 128 companies have now received support through the Scottish Government\u2019s Seafood Resilience Fund, with more than \u00a35 million provided to processors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3320,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"sponsor":[],"class_list":["post-3319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-seafood"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldfishing.net\/icefish-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldfishing.net\/icefish-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldfishing.net\/icefish-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldfishing.net\/icefish-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldfishing.net\/icefish-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3319"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldfishing.net\/icefish-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3321,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldfishing.net\/icefish-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3319\/revisions\/3321"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldfishing.net\/icefish-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldfishing.net\/icefish-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldfishing.net\/icefish-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldfishing.net\/icefish-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3319"},{"taxonomy":"sponsor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldfishing.net\/icefish-conference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sponsor?post=3319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}