07/12/2015

EC Adopts Ireland's €241m Seafood Development Programme

The European Commission (EC) is adopting Ireland's €241 million development programme for the seafood sector, Simon Coveney has announced.

The initiative will be implemented until 2020 and co-funded by the Exchequer and European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF).

Funding under the programme will be given to:

• Sustainable Development of Fisheries (€67 million)

• Sustainable Development of Aquaculture (€30 million)

• Processing and Marketing (€33 million)

• Fisheries Local Action Groups (€12 million)

• Control and Enforcement (€45 million)

• Data Collection (€41 million)

• Integrated Maritime Policy (€10.6 million)

Minister Coveney said: "I am delighted to announce that our comprehensive €241 million investment package for the seafood sector has been adopted in law by the Commission and the Programme can now be implemented in full. My Department has been working on this for some time with stakeholders and the State agencies that will deliver the Programme. I expect now that Schemes will be rolled out from the beginning of 2016 to assist seafood enterprises to sustainably grow their production, add value to our seafood exports and create much needed employment in our coastal communities."

Ireland's Seafood sector is worth approximately €850 million per year.

Minister Coveney added he hoped to achieve €1 billion sales by 2020.

(LM)

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