Seafish (the United Kingdom’s Sea Fish Industry Authority) on Tuesday announced that more than GBP 700,000 is available as part of its Industry Project Fund (IPF), established in 2007 to support innovation and growth in the industry.
The latest round of funding will support 15 new projects as well as the continuation of nine projects from previous rounds of funding.
The scope of new projects is wide, involving everything from fishermen’s safety to marine spatial planning to measuring the health of fish stocks. But this year a bulk of the funding will go toward consumer education, including projects that promote seafood’s nutritional benefits. One such project within the “consumer” theme is the “Fish to Food” project run by Billingsgate Seafood Training School in London.
The nine projects from previous rounds of funding include work on cod larval rearing and the ecology and biology of the flatfish megrim.
“Today’s announcement is exciting for us, as it clearly signals that Seafish is back onboard, adding value to industry exactly as we wish [and] enabling us to support interesting and innovative projects,” said Seafish CEO Dr. Paul Williams.
“The IPF is an important part of our work program, enabling individuals and businesses to research exciting new ideas,” he added. “But we are also busy planning other work within our key themes. We’ll be talking to industry about our plans going forward.”
Tuesday’s announcement comes about a month after the UK’s Supreme Court on Wednesday sided with Seafish in a case involving uncollected duties on imported seafood owed to Seafish that had prevented the organization from serving the industry “at full capacity.”
