Fisheries and Seafood Scheme Funding.

 

The Fisheries and Seafood Scheme will provide financial support for projects in England that secure sustainable growth across the catching, processing and aquaculture sectors, and that protect and enhance the marine environment.

Aims of the Fisheries and Seafood Scheme The Fisheries and Seafood Scheme will provide financial assistance for projects that support sustainable growth in the catching, processing and aquaculture sectors, and enhance the marine environment. The scheme is available to applicants whose businesses and/or vessels are registered in England.

The scheme will provide funding for a range of projects that deliver the following seven strategic priorities:

• promoting a sustainable sector for future generations
• protecting the marine environment, by reducing the environmental impacts of the sector
• delivering world class science and innovation
• supporting coastal communities to promote economic growth and social inclusion supporting the reform of stock and quota management to ensure a balance between fishing opportunities and capacity
• enhancing the value chain through marketing and processing, opening the potential for English businesses home and abroad 
• developing industry infrastructure which is essential to supporting sustainable growth across the whole sector. 

Not all areas of the scheme will always be open for support. Some areas will be opened later and for a defined period, through a funding round.

Who can apply for funding? To be eligible for this scheme you must be one of the following:

• An individual or business engaged within commercial/recreational sea fishing, aquaculture or processing 
• A public body/local authority in a local community that has a focus on fishing/aquaculture activities (including trust ports and local authority ports, and public bodies, using funds for environmental improvements/management of fisheries) 
• A university or research institute 
• A new entrant to the industry or unemployed individual that could benefit from knowledge/skills in fishing/aquaculture activities. 

You will be required to declare if you have received funding from other Government financial support schemes and, if so, what for.

If you are a business, you will need to declare whether you fall into the category of micro-entities, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) or larger enterprises.

Who cannot apply for funding? You cannot apply for and receive funding if you have:

been convicted of fraud under any other fisheries scheme; been convicted of an offence that the MMO considers to be a ‘serious infringement ’ or fraud, in the 12 months before applying. Please read the Guidance on Inadmissibility and fraud here.

What activities the Fisheries and Seafood Scheme can support You must review the relevant guidance note for the project you are seeking funding for. These set out what you can and cannot apply for. The guidance notes cover:

General guidance

PDF, 575KB, 19 pages

Guidance for Fishing Activities

PDF, 359KB, 11 pages 

Funding for Safety Training

Funding may be available to support experienced commercial fishermen undertaking training to develop their knowledge, skills and qualifications above and beyond minimum legal requirements. A wide range of training can be supported, ranging from refreshing your basic safety training to undertaking a Deck or Engineer Officer Certificate of Competency.

Eligible Courses:

Funding is currently available to support a wide range of courses, including:

• New Entrant Training - our three-week Introduction to Commercial Fishing course is designed for people interested in starting a career in the fishing industry.
• Refresher Safety Training - this can be undertaken by experienced fishermen who completed their mandatory safety training more than three years ago. The courses cover sea survival, fire-fighting, first aid and safety awareness.
• Under 16.5m Skipper's Certificate – comprising short courses in Navigation/Bridge Watchkeeping, Engineering/Engine room Watchkeeping, Stability Awareness and GMDSS radio operation. Additional funding is also available for fishermen who already hold the Seafish Under 16.5m skipper's certificate to undertake further advanced courses.
• Certificates of Competency - grant support is available for experienced fishermen undertaking MCA (Fishing Vessel) Deck and Engineer Officer Certificates of Competency.
• Other short courses - other eligible courses may include a higher level GMDSS radio operator certificate, an Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS), Approved Engineering Course (AEC) or Human Element Leadership and Management (HELM).
• Funding is only available for new entrants wanting to enter the fishing industry and experienced commercial fishermen who are fully compliant with Basic Safety Training requirements.

Funding Deadlines
Current deadlines for EMFF/MCA funding are as follows:

• England - 31 March 2020
• Scotland - 31 December 2019
• Northern Ireland - 31 March 2019
• Wales - 30 September 2019

Please note: Available funding is allocated on a first come first serve basis so funding up until the final dates cannot be guaranteed.

How to Apply

For refresher training or voluntary training courses towards our Under 16.5m Skipper’s Certificate, contact your local Seafish Approved Training Provider (ATP) and they will offer you the course free of charge, providing you satisfy the eligibility criteria. If you wish to undertake training with anyone other than a Seafish ATP, then you will have to fill out a training grant application. Funding for more advanced qualifications, such as a Certificate of Competency, can only be obtained by submission of a grant application form. See the Downloads section at the right of this page to download a copy of the grant application form.

Brexit sweetener? - financial boost for fishing from Gove.

The UK government will table an amendment to its Brexit fisheries bill which will aim to "enshrine its commitment to secure a fairer share of fishing opportunities" for UK fishermen, it has said.

The amendment would place a legal obligation on the secretary of state, when negotiating a fisheries agreement with the EU, to pursue a fairer share of fishing opportunities than the UK currently receives under the common fisheries policy (CFP).

This, the government said, would overhaul the current system where UK fishermen have received a "poor deal that is based on fishing patterns from the 1970s".

"On average between 2012 and 2016 other EU member states’ vessels landed in the region of 760,000 [metric tons] of fish (£540 million revenue) annually caught in UK waters; whereas UK vessels landed approximately 90,000t of fish (£110m revenue) caught in other member states’ waters per year in the same time period."

As well as strengthening the law, the UK environment secretary, Michael Gove, announced £37.2m of extra funding to boost the UK fishing industry during the Brexit "implementation period".

This is in addition to the existing European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) funding, which at €243m over seven years is broadly equivalent to £32m a year, it said.

The government and devolved administrations (Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales) have already committed to match the EMFF funding with around £60m, so the extra funding will support more projects and the sector will benefit by a total of £320m, the government said.

Gove has also committed that the government will put in place new, domestic, long-term arrangements to support the UK’s fishing industry from 2021, through the creation of four new schemes comparable to EMFF to deliver funding for each nation. The devolved administrations will lead on their own schemes.

"We are taking back control of our waters and will secure a fairer share of fishing opportunities for the whole of the UK fishing industry as we leave the EU. The amendment to the Fisheries Bill will give legal weight to this commitment," said Gove.

"New funding will boost the industry as we become an independent coastal state, preparing it to receive a greater share of future fishing opportunities. The new schemes will be introduced after EMFF has closed in 2020. Details of these will be set at the 2019 spending review."

In England, the scheme is designed to:

• support innovation -- in technologies to enhance economic growth, reduce environmental impact and improve fishing safety
• improve port infrastructure -- so more fish can be landed in UK ports, and help the sector take advantage of new export opportunities after exit
• boost coastal communities -- by providing benefits to areas that depend on a vibrant and profitable industry, and
• help the sector adjust -- to new arrangements on access and fishing opportunities by improving capacity and capability to exploit new export opportunities and markets.
• The Scottish Fishermen’s Federation welcomed the amendment to the bill, and the commitment of extra resources for the sector to aid the UK's transition to an independent coastal state and beyond.

"Particularly pleasing is the rejection of French president Emmanuel Macron's suggestion that existing shares of fish be maintained post-Brexit, and the establishment instead of a platform for annual negotiations to move towards much fairer shares."

The industry remains adamant that there must be no link between access to UK waters and trade with the EU, it said. Fears had been growing among the UK fishing sector, as it became clear the text of the fisheries bill left room for such a trade-off.

Newlyn Harbour regeneration public consultation - go along and check out the plans.

Marine & Coastal Access Act 2009 – Application for Newlyn Harbour Workspace Regeneration

For the 'Canner Slip' read as the 'Canners' Slip' - known as such because Shipphams used to can pilchards (before they became sardines) in the building that is now Trelawney Fish.

Two boats moored just off the Canners' Slip as it was in the 1950s.
(Photo courtesy of the Newlyn Archive)

Looking back towards the fish market and Newlyn Town.

Looking at the new works buildings frontage from the harbour

Next Friday and Saturday there will be an opportunity to view and discuss the proposed new workspace building and car parking plans for the area between the Canner's Slip and the new RNLI Lifeboat House (currently under construction).

Plans and harbour board members and a consultant will be in attendance on:

When?   - Friday 7th Sept 5-7pm and Saturday 8th Sept 9-12am.

Where?  - boardroom inside the new fish market office area.

The plans, photographs and artists impressions of the new buildings can be viewed in the document below:

MARINE AND COASTAL ACCESS ACT 2009

APPLICATION FOR NEWLYN HARBOUR WORKSPACE REGENERATION

Notice is hereby given that Newlyn Pier and Harbour Commissioners, Newlyn Harbour, The Strand, Newlyn, TR18 5HW has applied to the Marine Management Organisation under the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009, Part 4, for a marine licence to undertake regeneration works at Newlyn Harbour. Plans showing the position of the works may be inspected at Newlyn Harbour Office, The Strand, Newlyn, Penzance TR18 5HW.

Copies of the application and associated information may be viewed on line in the Public Register and Representations in respect of the application should ordinarily be made by visiting the MMO public register:

The application has been submitted to the MMO and can be viewed here:

All the relevant documents can be viewed here

However, we will also accept representations via the following formats:
– By email to marine.consents@marinemanagement.org.uk; or alternatively
– By letter addressed to Marine Management Organisation, Lancaster House, Hampshire Court, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE4 7YH

In all cases, correspondence must:
– Be received within 28 days of the date of the first notice (2);
– Quote the case reference; and
– include an address to which correspondence relating to the representation or objection may be sent.

The Marine Management Organisation will pass to the applicant a copy of any objection or representation we receive.

Thursday 23 August 2018

For the latest information check out the Newlyn Harbour website or make contact using the above details.

One year away from the divorce court.

 The referendum caused the country, counties, family, friends and workmates to vote a simple 'Yes' or "No' on an issue with so many facets and so many unknowns that neither Leave or Remain could provide straightforward answers. Like an arranged marriage without the getting to know, date, engagement and then a wedding to tie up the nuptials the UK is now headed off to the divorce court hoping to keep at least 50% of what it had in the marriage. 

Fishing is undoubtedly one of the UK's chattels that on paper could do without.  Looked at purely on the basis of financial value,  many decent sized companies employ more people and produce more wealth than the fishing industry in its entirety.

Look at the industry as a part of the UK's maritime, cultural and national identity and its value - like the legacy of the aristocracy, great buildings and monuments built on the back of an empire - its value is not so easy to calculate.

Margaret Evans from CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Company) recently paid Nelwyn a visit as the country was only days away from marking the countdown with 365 days to go to the divorce date.

She found herself exploring the irony that despite being in a region that has received grants amounting to 10% of the entire EU budget many wanted a divorce that would cut themselves off from that financial support in the future.

"More than two decades later, with Britain's official exit date from the European Union now just under a year away, Cornish fishermen are on the verge of escaping what many of them call the ill-founded and tyrannical rule of the EU's Common Fisheries Policy (CFP)."

"Not by our local boats, but because we're being given scraps by Brussels, and we've seen the boats from France and Belgium come and take what they can take out of our own waters."

The EU's complicated manner of deciding fish quotas for its members sees nearly 60 per cent of the fish caught in the waters around Britain being landed by boats from other EU countries. 

Cornish fishermen, for example, are limited to eight per cent of the cod quota in their own waters, while the French can catch 73 per cent."

You can read the full article here:

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Margaret Evans

Europe correspondent

Margaret Evans is a correspondent based in the CBC News London bureau. A veteran conflict reporter, Evans has covered civil wars and strife in Angola, Chad and Sudan, as well as the myriad battlefields of the Middle East.

MSC launches Global Fisheries Sustainability Fund

The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) has today launched a new global fund for supporting critical fishery science research and projects aimed at strengthening knowledge and global capacity to assist small scale and developing world fisheries in their journey to achieving MSC certification. 

The Global Fisheries Sustainability Fund is launched with an initial allocation of £400,000, split over two years, and reflects the MSC’s commitment to increase the accessibility of the MSC program to more fisheries around the world.

Fund to address information, technology and management gaps

“MSC’s vision is of the world’s oceans teeming with life and seafood supplies safeguarded for this and future generations. Fifteen years on since the MSC was launched, more than 250 fisheries are certified to the MSC’s Standard and are demonstrating their leadership in managing our precious ocean resources sustainably.”said Rupert Howes, Chief Executive of the Marine Stewardship Council.

“However, for many fisheries, achieving the scientific, independently verified performance required for MSC certification can be a significant challenge. We have established this fund to support projects that will address the knowledge and capacity obstacles that fisheries face in gaining certification. The fund is specifically aimed at increasing the accessibility of the MSC program for more of the world’s fisheries by working to reduce barriers fisheries face in achieving the MSC Standard.” added Howes.

The MSC invites applications that will deliver critical scientific research that address information, technology and management gaps and barriers that fisheries encounter in achieving the MSC Standard, and that build the capacity of personnel to assist small scale and developing world fisheries in their improvements and gaining certification.

Academic institutions, researchers, fisheries, governments and NGOs can apply

The fund is open to academic institutions, independent researchers, fisheries, governments and non-governmental organisations. It is hoped that further allocations will be made in future years. MSC will actively seek additional, third party contributions to enhance the overall scale of the fund and hence potential grants available to applicants.

“This investment will not only help more fisheries to achieve their aspirations of sustainable ecosystem-based fisheries management, it will also help to secure seafood supplies and fishing based economies for future generations.” added Howes.

The MSC Global Fisheries Sustainability Fund supports critical fishery science research and projects.

The fund launched in July 2015 with an initial allocation of £400,000, split over two years.

What the fund is for

The fund is aimed at strengthening knowledge and capacity to assist small scale and developing world fisheries in their journey to achieving MSC certification.

The MSC invites applications that will:

• Deliver critical scientific research addressing information, technology and management gaps and barriers that fisheries encounter in achieving the MSC Standard.

• Build the capacity of personnel to assist small scale and developing world fisheries in their improvements and gaining certification.

Who the fund is open to

The fund is open to academic institutions, independent researchers, fisheries, governments and non-governmental organisations. It is hoped that further allocations will be made in future years. The MSC will actively seek additional, third party contributions to enhance the overall scale of the fund and hence potential grants available to applicants.

How to apply

The deadline for applications for 2015 is October 31st, with awardees to be announced towards the end of the year.

Organisations and individuals interested in making an application for funding should contact the MSC via GFSF@msc.org to request guidance and an application form. All applications should be in English.