Northern Ireland’s fisheries minister, Michelle O’Neill, has ruled out a local fishing vessel decommissioning scheme and has said that the funding for this will now assist with fleet modernisation.
Minister O’Neill said with regards to the funding that was to be spent on decommissioning, there are opportunities available to the local industry to obtain grants to modernise their vessels. This funding measure is worth some £2.5million.
A review of all funding allocations within the European Fisheries Fund is being undertaken, to ensure that they are fully utilised and reallocated to other measures where demand for financial support is likely to exceed the approved budgets. This review will include consideration of how best to utilise the funding that had been earmarked for decommissioning for the benefit of the fishing industry and the communities in which they are based.
