merrion street

Minister for Agriculture Food and the Marine, Michael Creed T.D. today announced the award of a further €1,324,040 in grants to 19 seafood enterprises in 9 different counties under the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) Operational Programme for the seafood sector.  The grant awards will support total investment of €3.5 million in 2017.  The grants are co-funded by the Exchequer and EU and subject to terms and conditions.

Minister Creed said, “In March, I announced EMFF grant awards of €1.8 million to seafood enterprises.  I am delighted to now announce a further €1.3 million in EMFF grant awards to 19 seafood enterprises.  It is especially welcome to see that aquaculture enterprises are dominating this round of grant awards.  Grants of almost €1 million are being offered to 10 aquaculture enterprises.  Nine of these will further develop our oyster production, while the other concerns mussels.  Taken together with the earlier awards in March, this means grant offers of nearly €2 million have already been made this year to 18 aquaculture enterprises and are supporting €5 million in aquaculture capital investments.  The EMFF Sustainable Aquaculture Scheme remains opens for applications and I am optimistic that we will see yet more aquaculture projects coming forward as the year progresses.  The Sustainable Aquaculture Scheme supports capital investments in licensed aquaculture sites to grow our production and mitigate environmental impact. Our National Strategic Plan for Sustainable Aquaculture Development is aiming to sustainably grow our production by 45,000 tonnes and these 2017 projects are welcome contributions towards that target”. 

These grant awards contribute to the Action Plan for Rural Development. 

Note to Editors

Ireland’s EMFF Operational Programme 2014-2020 was adopted by the European Commission in December 2015 and launched in January 2016 by the Minister for Agriculture Food and the Marine.  The Programme provides €240m in funding to the seafood sector (fisheries, aquaculture and seafood processing) over the period 2014 to 2020. The Programme is co-funded by the Exchequer and the EU.

The EMFF OP is providing a suite of 3 development schemes for the seafood processing sector.  The Seafood Innovation and Business Planning Scheme aims to incentivise seafood innovation and new product development and assist the sector with business planning, environmental management and energy efficiency.  The Seafood Capital Investment Scheme supports capital investment in state of the art equipment to produce value added seafood products thus maximising the return from raw materials.  The Seafood Scaling and New Market Development Scheme gives processors the tools to diversify and develop their export markets and encourages cooperation in the sector to improve route to market structures. 

Two Schemes are available to the aquaculture sector to help achieve the aims of the National Strategic Plan for Sustainable Aquaculture Development.  The Plan is seeking to sustainably grow production by 45,000 tonnes.  The Sustainable Aquaculture Scheme supports capital investment by licensed aquaculture enterprises to sustainably grow production and reduce environmental impact of aquaculture.  The Knowledge Gateway Scheme promotes and supports innovation, technological development and disease management in the aquaculture sector. 

Bord Iascaigh Mhara has been provided with €26 million of EMFF funds in 2017 to disperse to the seafood sector over 10 EMFF support schemes.

Grant approvals - Sustainable Aquaculture Scheme

*         Subject to confirmation of SME status

Grant approvals - Seafood Processing Capital Investment Scheme

*         Subject to confirmation of SME status

Grant approvals - Seafood Scaling & New Market Development Scheme

Grant approvals - Seafood Innovation & Business Planning Scheme