Businesses and marine organisations in Scotland’s coastal communities will benefit from £14million in grants from the Marine Fund Scotland 2023-24.
A total of 91 projects, with grants ranging from just under £1,000 up to £1.6 million, will support innovation and sustainable practices for the marine economy, including work to reduce carbon emissions.
Fraserburgh Harbour, home to the Moray East Offshore Windfarm Marine Base, received nearly £1.2million for harbour wall improvements and a marine litter project.
Pamela Neri, Harbour Development Manager at Fraserburgh Harbour said: “In light of the continual run of recent storms, the award allows us to undertake structural repairs to the Harbour’s breakwater.
"This protects our harbour from aggressive sea conditions, increases our resilience, and safeguards our operations to the benefit of our fishing industry, local community and harbourside businesses.
“The additional funding to enable the purchase of a trash skimmer has allowed us to tackle water pollution and reduce the Harbour’s impact on the environment.”
Other projects benefitting from funding include:
- £358,000 for an innovative Robert Gordon University project to create new field tests for shellfish
- £35,000 for a purchase and installation of a pre fabricated building at Stonehaven Harbour
- £361,000 for the purchase and installation of an automated fish processing line Peterhead White Fish Processors
- £395,000 towards the purchase of new equipment at Thistle Seafoods
- £283,000 for Peterhead Port Authority to upgrade units at Seagate
You can view a full list of the grants here.
Announcing the recipients of the fund, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands, Mairi Gougeon, said: “The successful organisations and individuals are helping to drive innovation in the marine sector and support coastal communities and I am pleased to confirm such a wide variety of recipients.
“Now in its third year, Marine Fund Scotland has enabled a range of exciting and pioneering projects designed to support our marine ecosystem, improve economic prosperity and enhance social inclusion, all key pillars of our Blue Economy Vision.
"We are committed to maintaining the full allocation for Marine Fund Scotland but an independent Scotland, within the EU receiving pre-Brexit levels of funding, could much better support our seafood and marine industries. It is time that the UK Government provided the sector with their equitable - and rightful – share of funding so that projects like these can continue long into the future. We will continue to press them to do so.”