Last week, Chloe North spoke on behalf of the Western Fish Producer’s Organisation and its members, including Waterdance – at the House of Commons. The EFRA Committee met to discuss the UK Seafood Fund. Now at its half-way mark, Chloe discussed the success of the fund so far and where it could next be used to support our industry.

The aim of the UK Seafood Fund centred around supporting fisheries and aquaculture in modernisation and improvement in three main areas: infrastructure, science, and training. The fund aims to increase the economic and environmental sustainability of the industry and its practices.

Chloe discussed how alongside the current shore-based projects, the fund could be used to support fleet modernisation –– particularly to aid in emission reduction and crew living conditions improvements. The fund is also planned to be used for training improvements, we hope this will lead to an increased availability of fisherman and more options for fisherman to be trained as skippers.