£7.75m to help fishing sector cope with Brexit
Money for the seafood and fishing industry has been allocated to help the sector deal with the impact of coronavirus and Brexit.
A new £7.75 million funding package will offer support to fishermen, seafood businesses, ports and harbours, the Scottish government has announced.
The package includes £6.45m for the Seafood Producers Resilience Fund to provide support to eligible shellfish catchers and producers, in addition to trout farmers who have faced issues exporting to the EU.
A further £1m is available to support the investment plans of Scottish ports and harbours faced with a loss of income through landing fees and £300,000 has been awarded to the Fishermen's Mission for the welfare and emergency support activities to held workers in hardship.
Fisheries Secretary Fergus Ewing said: “In the absence of any further clarity on resilience funding from the UK government, we are stepping in to support the industry and coastal communities across Scotland and ensuring we meet the emergency needs of crews by providing welfare support through the Fishermen's Mission.
“Both shellfish and trout businesses who have faced losses due to Covid-19 hospitality closures across Europe are now losing products or facing additional costs due to border disruption and new nontariff barriers.
“It's not just exporting, we know this has serious knock-on effects that ripples right through the supply chain from boats struggling to land at ports to not being able to sell their catch.”