Seafood Producers Resilience Fund
Post Author:
Anne Melville
Date Posted:
February 8, 2021
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The Scottish government has announced support for eligible shellfish catchers and producers and also trout farmers who have faced issues exporting to the EU and have lost access to domestic food markets as a result of COVID-19.
This new funding is worth £6.45m and will benefit around 1,000 vessels landing shellfish such as crab, lobster, scallops, langoustines and squid and around 75 aquaculture businesses that produce shellfish or trout for table markets.
This funding does not prevent vessels from fishing or businesses from operating.
Eligibility and grant levels for shellfish vessels
The Seafood Producers Resilience Fund will support Scottish registered static gear vessels, scallop vessels and nephrops trawlers of any length. Vessels must have had annual UK landings exceeding £20,000 in any one year from 2017 to 2020 and at least 50% of declared overall catch value landed anywhere in that year must be shellfish. Vessels must also have declared landings of shellfish into the UK in 2020. Only vessels that meet these criteria are eligible for support from the Fund. Note that due to the nature of the current situation the eligibility criteria could change at short notice.
This specific support will be provided through grants paid by electronic transfer. The grant amount will be calculated based on the average fixed costs for three months for a vessel of a given size and operating in a given fleet segment. The average fixed costs have been calculated based on Sea fish Fleet Economic Statistics for 2016, 2017 and 2018, rounded to the nearest £100 and include insurance, hire and maintenance, other vessel expenses, interest, some other financial costs and harbour duties. Grants are subject to a cap of £45,600 per undertaking and a maximum of £22,800 per vessel.
The following table sets out the grant amount to be paid per eligible vessel operating in a given sector, subject to the above caps:
| Vessel length | Scallop dredgers | Trawlers Creel | Creel and static gear |
| 0-<6m | n/a | n/a | £1,100 |
| 6-<8m | n/a | n/a | £1,800 |
| 8-<10m | £4,200 | £4,800 | £3,300 |
| 10-<12m | £5,700 | £4,800 | £4,900 |
| 12-<15m | £9,900 | £8,100 | £6,200 |
| 15-<18m | £13,300 | £10,900 | £15,400 |
| 18-<40m | £22,800 | £20,700 | £15,400 |
Vessel length refers to overall length and vessels are allocated to segments based on the gear most frequently declared in 2020.
Eligibility and grant levels for Aquaculture undertakings
The Seafood Producers Resilience Fund will also support shellfish and trout aquaculture businesses that have lost all or part of their relevant market due to the COVID-19 pandemic and EU Exit. This support will be provided through three monthly grant payments in respect of January, February and March 2021. A grant application must be completed in respect of each month in respect of which a grant is sought.
Grants made under the scheme will subject to a cap of £40,500 per business or £45,600 per business where the business also owns vessels in the catching sector eligible for support under the Fund.
To apply for a grant under the Seafood Producers Resilience Fund, applicants in the aquaculture sector are required to demonstrate that they have an active and authorised aquaculture production business producing shellfish or trout for the table market. Further detail is included in the application form.
How to apply
Businesses that consider they meet the eligibility criteria are invited to apply. There are separate forms for aquaculture businesses and for fishing vessels.
If your business owns both vessels and aquaculture undertakings, you will have to complete two applications (combined payments will be capped at £45,600).
Once your completed application has been reviewed and deemed eligible, a grant award letter will be sent to you, confirming the grant amount you are eligible to receive. The grant award letter must be signed and returned to Marine Scotland, after which payments will be made as soon as possible.
Deadline for applying
To claim in respect of a fishing vessel please complete the application on or before 26 February 2021 and send to seafoodproducerresiliencefund@gov.scot. Eligibility will be assessed against data already held by Marine Scotland.
To claim in respect of an aquaculture undertaking please complete the application below for each month as set out in the application form and send to aquacultureintervention@gov.scot .
If applying you should confirm that you hold the relevant signing authority and that you have the relevant authority to nominate the bank account provided for payment of the grant.
If claiming in respect of both an aquaculture undertaking and a fishing vessel please complete both forms. There is a space on each form to identify whether you will also be claiming in respect of the other kind of business.
Applications will be considered as soon as possible once they are received, and you may be asked to provide further information to support your application. Payments will be made to the nominated bank account within 28 days of a correctly completed form being received and the claim accepted as eligible.
Appeals
If you wish to appeal the decision on your application on whether to award a grant or to the sum of that grant, you can do so by contacting: seafoodproducerresiliencefund@gov.scot for vessels or aquacultureintervention@gov.scot for aquaculture businesses
You must submit your appeal within 14 days of receiving your application decision. Your appeal will be considered by a different official than your original application. Special circumstances or disagreement with any aspect of the Fund’s eligibility criteria will not be grounds for appeal.
Other support
Businesses should familiarise themselves with the other forms of support available to them and consider the most appropriate source of support. Some exporters may be able to claim under the recently announced UK Government scheme, details of which are still to be announced.
Businesses will also be able to contact their local authority to identify other forms of support. As this area is fast moving it is possible that new streams of funding may be introduced by Scottish or UK Government to achieve the same outcomes as this scheme. In that case you may be asked to repay some of or all of this grant.
Application form for aquaculture businesses
Application form for vessels: example of completed form
https://www.gov.scot/publications/seafood-producers-resilience-fund/
The information in this blog provides only an overview of Scottish Government guidance and legislation in force at the date of publication and no action should be taken without consulting the detailed Scottish Government guidance and legislation or seeking professional advice. Therefore no responsibility for loss occasioned by any person acting or refraining from action as a result of the material contained in this blog can be accepted by the firm.
Photo by Caroline Hall on Unsplash
