A record £9.3million in grants for Scottish fishing and fish-farming projects was announced yesterday as the Scottish Government revealed the latest payouts from a European Union funding pot.
Fisheries Secretary Richard Lochhead said the cash would be used to strengthen Scotland’s processing sector, secure jobs in remote areas, trial new technologies, improve the efficiency of the fishing industry and grow the nation’s reputation as a land of food and drink.
The latest awards, ranging from £1,200 to more than £760,000, take the total level of European Fisheries Fund (EFF) investment for 2009 to in excess of £25million.
Young north-east skippers looking to secure a share in their own vessels, plus small aquaculture firms affected by the infectious salmon anaemia outbreak (ISA) earlier this year, are among the successful applicants.
The largest payout, £762,537, went to processor Sco-Fro Group, based at Newton Stewart, for a £3million-plus project to build a new cold store, and acquire and instal related equipment.
Shetland is receiving more than £2million, more than half of which is going to salmon companies which were devastated by ISA.
They have already lost about £10million as a result of the outbreak and expect the final cost to be well in excess of £20million.
About £1.2million from yesterday’s third round of EFF cash has been ring-fenced for pilot projects and trials aimed at helping the ISA-hit fish farms to recover.
The announcement came on the same day that the last salmon affected by the disease, which is deadly to fish but not to humans, was harvested in the control zone.
Money was given to Hjaltland Seafarms, the biggest fish farmer in Shetland, Skelda Salmon, the NAFC Marine Centre and trade body Shetland Aquaculture.
No cash went to Scottish Sea Farms, however, which owns the farm near Hildasay where the disease was first detected by fisheries officers on January 2.
The government said the EFF grants would help to create or safeguard more than 1,000 jobs.
Grants worth several hundred thousand pounds were also awarded to businesses in the north-east.