Grants awarded from Marine Fund Scotland.
Businesses and marine organisations in Scotland’s coastal
communities will benefit from £14 million in grants from the
Marine Fund Scotland 2023-24.
A total of 91 projects, with grants ranging from just under
£1,000 up to £1.6 million, will support innovation and
sustainable practices for the marine economy, including work to
reduce carbon emissions. Projects include:
- modernising seafood processing facilities to reduce energy
and increase efficiencies
- harbour improvements, supported by community clean ups and
marine litter prevention work, to aid decarbonisation
- new marine research to drive innovation using the latest
available technology and data to protect wild salmon and manage
non-native invasive species
Announcing the recipients of the fund, Cabinet Secretary for
Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands, , said:
“The successful organisations and individuals are helping to
drive innovation in the marine sector and support coastal
communities and I am pleased to confirm such a wide variety of
recipients.
“Now in its third year, Marine Fund Scotland has enabled a range
of exciting and pioneering projects designed to support our
marine ecosystem, improve economic prosperity and enhance social
inclusion, all key pillars of our Blue Economy Vision.
"We are committed to maintaining the full allocation for Marine
Fund Scotland but an independent Scotland, within the EU
receiving pre-Brexit levels of funding, could much better support
our seafood and marine industries. It is time that the UK
Government provided the sector with their equitable - and
rightful – share of funding so that projects like these can
continue long into the future. We will continue to press them to
do so.”
The funding includes various harbours from Wick to Eyemouth.
Fraserburgh Harbour, home to the Moray East Offshore Windfarm
Marine Base, received nearly £1.2 million for harbour wall
improvements and a marine litter project.
Pamela Neri, Harbour Development Manager at Fraserburgh Harbour
said:
“We are grateful for the recent grant assistance from the
Scottish Government’s Marine Fund Scotland which plays a
significant role in our ongoing development.
“In light of the continual run of recent storms, the award allows
us to undertake structural repairs to the Harbour’s breakwater.
This protects our harbour from aggressive sea conditions,
increases our resilience, and safeguards our operations to the
benefit of our fishing industry, local community and harbourside
businesses.
“The additional funding to enable the purchase of a trash skimmer
has allowed us to tackle water pollution and reduce the Harbour’s
impact on the environment.”
Background
The 2023-24 Marine Fund
Scotland delivers on the Scottish Government’s Blue
Economy Vision which was published in 2022.
Marine Fund Scotland was established following the UK’s exit from
the EU and replaces funding for the fishing and seafood sector
previously available through the European Maritime and Fisheries
Fund (EMFF).
Supported projects include
-
Seafood Scotland £1.6m to promote Scottish seafood in
both domestic markets and internationally
-
Vonin Scotland Ltd £955,000 to establish a net washing
facility at Kyleakin, saving 300 nets a year from
landfill/incineration
-
Robert Gordon University £358,000 for an innovative
project to create new field tests for shellfish
List of beneficiaries for
2023-24
The latest Building a New Scotland paper ‘Our marine sector in an
independent Scotland’ set out the benefits of rejoining the
EU for the marine sector and the industries and communities it
supports, including negotiating an equitable share of EU funding.
