In announcing the adoption of the Programme the Minister said “I am delighted to announce that our comprehensive €241 million investment package for the seafood sector has been adopted in law by the Commission and the Programme can now be implemented in full. My Department has been working on this for some time with stakeholders and the State agencies that will deliver the Programme. I expect now that Schemes will be rolled out from the beginning of 2016 to assist seafood enterprises to sustainably grow their production, add value to our seafood exports and create much needed employment in our coastal communities. Our Seafood sector is worth in the region of €850 million annually to our economy and I am aiming to achieve €1 billion sales by 2020.”
Funds under the Programme will be distributed as follows:
- Sustainable Development of Fisheries (€67 million)
- Sustainable Development of Aquaculture (€30 million)
- Processing and Marketing (€33 million)
- Fisheries Local Action Groups (€12 million)
- Control and Enforcement (€45 million)
- Data Collection (€41 million)
- Integrated Maritime Policy (€10.6 million)