Support for marine and fishing businesses

Fishing businesses and marine organisations in Scotland’s coastal communities will benefit from Marine Fund Scotland’s latest round of funding.

A host of processing businesses and fishing vessels have received awards from the Fund.

A total of 60 projects which contribute to innovative and sustainable practices, minimise carbon emissions and support coastal communities, will receive grants ranging from £7,000 to £1.2 million.

Among the local recipients are Lunar Freezing and Cold Storage Company Ltd, which will receive £369,975.88 towards the installation of solar panels on eight buildings in order to allow it to minimise its carbon footprint, and, in the long term, achieve net zero.

Thistle Seafood Limited is to get £855,000 towards the purchase of equipment, allowing it to start processing at a previous fish processing factory which will save 40 jobs and create 60 more. A further grant of £33,000 will enable the purchase of machinery to increase efficiency and reduce pastry wastage during the production of en croute products.

Fraserburgh Freezing and Cold Storage Ltd will receive £80,332.29 for a project aimed at increasing freezing and cold storage to meet demand and also reduce freezing time and improve product quality.

Whitelink Limited will receive £58,487 towards the purchase and installation of shellfish holding tanks to allow the company to diversify into processing new species, namely lobster and crab.

A grant of £716,485.40 has been awarded to Peterhead Port Authority towards the construction of a new quality flake ice plant. The new plant will use 20 per cent less energy than the old one and will be powered partly by solar panels.

International Fish Canners (Scotland) Ltd will receive £31,706.60 for operational improvements to increase throughput, reduce waste and the use of packing materials. A second grant of £70,341.20 will be used to install solar panels on the factory in Fraserburgh, reducing the energy requirement from the grid and the carbon footprint.

A grant of £63,025 has been awarded to Fraserburgh Harbour Commisioners for the urchase of an electric trash-skimmer vessel which aims to improve the marine environment in the harbour by keeping it free of marine litter in an efficient, cost effective and low carbon way.

Denholm Seafoods has been awarded a grant of £1.2m towards a new cold store aiming to almost double cold storage and freezing capacity, while improving freezing efficiency by 40 per cent. Solar panels aim to reduce energy requirement and carbon footprint of the factory.

Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon said: “Marine Fund Scotland has enabled some really exciting projects in the past and I’m confident that this round of funding will play an important role in continuing to help our marine and fisheries businesses to develop and move to the next level.

“These projects reflect Scotland’s Blue Economy Vision, the first phase of which culminated with the publishing of the report on ‘Delivering Scotland’s Blue Economy Approach’. The Marine Fund Scotland will continue to be key in supporting sustainable development of Scotland’s Blue Economy.”