Crucial funding made available for the fishing industry - spread the fish word not the virus!

COVID-19 has resulted in the closure of fish markets and the UK restaurant trade is now at a standstill. Now, more than ever, it is vital that we help fishers find local markets, so that they can keep working and to ensure that the British public has access to a vital, fresh food supply.

To support the seafood supply chain in the face of widespread COVID-19 disruption, the Fishmongers’ Company’s Fish on Friday website is introducing two, exciting, rapid response initiatives.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on merchant seafarers, fishers and their families, Seafarers UK has created a new Seafarers UK COVID-19 Emergency Fund of £2 million, with grants being awarded immediately to delivery partners providing advice and support for individual seafarers affected by the widespread coronavirus impacts.

The new fund is intended for distribution in 2020/2021, with 75% allocated to the international merchant seafaring community and 25% to UK coastal fishing fleets. Effective partnership working with frontline service delivery organisations across the UK plus those acting globally is already ensuring a rapid response to meet urgent welfare needs.

Seafarers UK chairman Vice Admiral Peter Wilkinson CB CVO BA said: ‘The trustees of Seafarers UK are releasing £2 million of new funds to help seafarers and fishers recover from the widespread impact on their wellbeing and livelihoods as a result of the coronavirus. We will work with our charity partners to provide both hardship funding and innovative new projects to support our seafarers through and beyond the current crisis. Our long history of helping those who work at sea enables us to target effective and meaningful support to where it is most needed.’

The new Seafarers UK COVID-19 Emergency Fund of £2m is in addition to Seafarers UK’s existing annual budget of £2m grants to support delivery partner organisations. The extra £2m is in addition to new funding announced earlier this month by the ITF Seafarers’ Trust and The TK Foundation, both organisations that work in collaboration with Seafarers UK.


COVID-19 RAPID RESPONSE GRANT PROGRAMME (RRGP)

The RRGP programme is for fishing and seafood businesses and food charities looking to:

• Diversify due to COVID-19 

• Promote the consumption or sale of local seafood 

• Provide community meals using seafood

With matched-funding from Seafarers UK, the UK's largest maritime charity, the fund now contains £500,000 to support the industry. For more information and to apply, visit fishonfriday.org.uk/grants.

INTERACTIVE SEAFOOD RETAIL MAP

Support local businesses and source local, safe, healthy sustainable food. Find out where you can order local seafood on this new interactive map.

Can’t find a seafood supplier near you? Nominate your local fish merchant or check back soon, as more are joining daily.

Are you selling seafood? 

To get your business or your members' businesses listed on the Fish on Friday site, please send the business name(s), a description of the service on offer (delivery/collection, food boxes etc), address, phone number, email address and website to info@fishonfriday.org.uk

It's Monday and it's magnificent Mounts Bay mackerel day!

One hundred and fifty boxes of prime MSC Certified Cornish hake all ready to be graded and weighed for tomorrow morning's market here in Newlyn...

while elsewhere on the market an unexpected but most welcome sight for the beleaguered handline fishermen of the port...

plenty of good sized mackerel...

had the boats grading back in port...

and queuing up to land at the market...

and to make things even better all the mackerel were caught in sight of the shore!

Critical worker certificates available for fishermen and key workers

Fishermen and other key workers in the seafood business can now request a ‘critical worker certificates’ from Seafish

In response to calls from industry, Seafish has created ‘critical worker certificates’ which is a document that can be issued on request for fishermen and other key workers in seafood businesses.

The ‘critical worker certificates’ to use when travelling to and from work or in the course of their work.

Simon Potten, Head of Safety and Training at Seafish said: “There’s no doubt that the restrictions imposed as a result of COVID-19 are having a huge impact on fishermen and seafood businesses across the country. It’s unlikely that there will be any let up in this soon, so this initiative forms part of our work to help maintain the fabric of the UK seafood sector in these challenging times.

“There isn’t a legal requirement for critical worker certificates to be carried but we’ve created them following requests from industry. If required, they can be used to help individuals demonstrate that they are a critical worker making a necessary journey.

“We’ve had a lot of interest in these certificates from fishermen and other seafood businesses already, with over 1,500 requests so far. We are processing applications as quickly as possible to support the businesses and individuals working hard to feed the nation.”

Certificates for fishermen, skippers or vessel owners can be issued to individuals who have completed the mandatory fishermen’s basic safety training and who are listed on Seafish’s fishermen’s training database.

Onshore fish and shellfish businesses can request a template certificate which they can complete and issue to key workers. Seafish will only be able to issue these to businesses that are known to it, such as levy payers, businesses which have undertaken Seafish-approved training in the last two years or which have another relevant pre-existing relationship with Seafish.

For further information visit the Seafish website:

Certificates for seafood businesses: https://www.seafish.org/article/assisting-key-workers-in-the-seafood-sector-to-make-essential-journeys-during-covid-19-restrictions

Certificates for fishermen: https://seafish.org/article/assisting-fishermen-to-make-essential-journeys-during-covid-19-restrictions

Fresh fish and shellfish caught, landed and delivered to your door from St Ives fishermen.

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Fresh fish and shellfish caught, landed and delivered to your door from St Ives fishermen

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FINANCIAL SUPPORT PACKAGE ANNOUNCED FOR ENGLISH FISHING INDUSTRY.

There is some light for the beleaguered UK fishing industry.

After intense political activity, and in some quarters mounting despair, the Government has overnight announced a package of financial support for the English fleet. Its purpose is to mitigate some of the impacts of the coronavirus health emergency by covering some of the fixed costs faced by fishing businesses, whilst facing collapsed or seriously depleted markets.

It has taken time and perseverance to make it understood within the Treasury that fishing businesses had fallen through the gaps in the otherwise massive package of support for the economy. Initially, the Treasury were resistant to a sector specific approach, but this became politically untenable after Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales announced their own fishing industry support schemes and pressure built in coastal constituencies.

The Minister for the Environment, Camborne and Redruth MP George Eustice went on BBC Spotlight this evening to talk about the support package - other interviews included Plymouth fishermen and Plymouth MP and Shadow Environment Minister Luke Pollard.

The bare bones of the English scheme are as follows:

• Financial support to help cover the average fixed costs of the English fleet
• The scheme is worth £10 million
• The scheme will last for three months
• Fixed monthly amounts will be paid by the MMO on a push basis to those considered eligible (no application will be required)
• Maximum cap of £10k per vessel (comparable with the small business grants scheme)
• Within the £10 million is support for aquaculture and to encourage small coastal projects aimed at increasing domestic consumption
• Catches of a minimum of £10K in the previous year will be required to establish eligibility

Banding:

• 0-6m £600 per month
• 6-8m £800
• 8-10m £2100
• 10-12m £4200
• 12-15m £7800
• 15-24m £13,700 (capped at £10K)

Bandings are based on Seafish costs and earnings survey
The scheme is a top-up rather than a tie-up scheme and vessels will not be hampered from fishing and selling their catch where this is a viable option

News on COVID19 and the Spanish fishing industry.

The sector obtains donations of sanitary material, but insists that the answers must come from the administrations

COVID-19: The rhythm of the markets slows down as the fleet recovers activity "day by day"

Most companies and workers in the extractive sector, markets and retailers are still active, but the pace of work has slowed . The volume of product traditionally absorbed by the Horeca channel, as well as the catering of schools and universities - all closed - finds no outlet in households, despite the increase in domestic purchases.

It is the balance of the situation today in the national market. The Crisis Committee for the fishing sector, activated by Cepesca , the National Federation of Fishermen's Associations and Fedepesca , the federation of retailers, to monitor the crisis of COVID-19 in fisheries, has updated the data from the sector in a new statement in which it points out that the activity of the fleet recovers "day by day".In the Cantabrian Sea, ships remain operational, and in the areas with the greatest moorings at the start of the state of alarm, such as the Mediterranean and the Gulf of Cádiz, the situation stabilizes. In the Canary Islands, where they operate under a different commercial regime, fishermen have agreements with marketers and go fishing on demand.

The sector insists that right now the main concern is to guarantee the safety of the crew and workers of the commercial channel.

The sector insists that right now the main concern is to guarantee the safety of the crew and workers of the commercial channel. The inshore is one of the main affected, and as the FNCP indicates, the protective material they obtain is thanks to altruism . The Murcian company Muebles Montiel is supplying washable polypropylene masks to the brotherhoods that have demanded them, and to the work of many women from different localities who are sewing them. Fishing organizations continue to demand individual protection equipment and masks from municipalities and regional and central governments.

NORMALITY IN THE HEIGHT FLEET

As for deep sea fishing, the gransolera fleet continues to operate normally. The same as the long-distance freezer fleet, including the Huelva shellfish fishermen in several African countries, who are concerned about the collapse of prices and the amount of seafood that is accumulating in freezers. The surface longline fleet , which fishes in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, also operates normally , but also with great concern about the low price of swordfish and sharks; the freezer trawler fleet , although it is also suffering from the drop in price, continues to fish normally. The Freezer Tuna Fleet, which also suffers from a drop in prices caused by the return of exports of Chinese tuna loins to the Spanish market, continues to fish. On the other hand, the sugarcane fishing fleet in Senegal continues to be stopped.

Like the inshore, the deep-sea fleet demands protection measures and adds another problem: the difficulties to carry out the crew relays persist . "The provision of screening tests is a priority," says the crisis committee.

Full story courtesy of Industrias Pesqueras .

MSC Certified Cornish hake in abundance on the fish market at Newlyn this morning!

One of the smallest inshore trawlers in the local fleet provides an escort for the big Belgian beam trawler Antje de Vries Z115 leaving Newlyn...

as Stevenson's beamer Twilight III...

makes her way to the fish market to land...

makes her way to the fish market to land...

a trip of quality flatfish including plaice...

and monk...

amounting to a 120 boxes of other quality flatfish typical of a beam trawler's trip at this time of year including lemon, megrim and Dover sole, brill, turbot, John Dory and several species of ray like stars and blondes.........

while the netter Britannia V put ashore the first trip of MSC Certified Cornish hake to be landed this week - let's hope the buyers can find enough outlets to maintain prices high enough to keep the fleet at sea.