2COVID-19 Response: EU support to the fisheries sector3
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This EU document is politically important because:
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Overview
2.1To help the fishery and aquaculture sectors respond to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the EU agreed legislation allowing fisheries funding to be re-directed in order to support the temporary cessation of business activities and the storage of unsold products. We wrote to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Victoria Prentis MP) on 18 June requesting further information on the use of this flexibility in the UK.
2.2In her recent response, the Minister explains that all of the UK Administrations are using the flexibility in order to direct funding to COVID-19 support measures. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have chosen to deliver financial support to their aquaculture industries as follows:
- Scotland is providing £1.25m to compensate aquaculture businesses for actual costs related to storage of aquaculture production.
- In Wales, short-term funding will cover up to 50% of an aquaculture company’s income foregone during March and April 2020, up to a maximum of £10,000 (with a total available budget of £100,000).
- In Northern Ireland, the level of compensation for aquaculture businesses reflects the lost income from fish sales during the period March-May 2020 inclusive, with the maximum support limited to €30,000 (£27,000) per undertaking.
2.3Northern Ireland has also approved a £200,000 scheme of support, subject to economic appraisal, to assist Lough Neagh inland fishers. This will draw funding under Article 33 (temporary cessation) of the revised European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) Regulation. Similar to the aquaculture scheme, the compensation payments will be based on the income foregone as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
2.4England has re-purposed £773,000 of EMFF funding to support COVID-19 recovery through health and safety, and fishing port and harbours investment. This will support on-board and port side investments to help achieve COVID-19 safe workspaces.
2.5To achieve the initiatives detailed above, an amendment to the UK’s EMFF Operational Programme has been submitted to the Commission which will re-allocate funds. All UK Administrations will continue to assess the extent to which live projects may have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and, where projects are no longer viable, funding may be re-allocated to COVID-19 recovery purposes. In most cases, applicants have advised that they expect projects to go ahead. However, reports the Minister, there have been numerous requests across the UK to extend project time-scales due to delays caused by COVID-19.
Action
2.6We are content with the response provided by the Minister and require no further information. We are reporting the Minister’s response to the House and drawing it to the attention of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee.
3 Proposal for a Regulation amending Regulation amending Regulation (EU) No 1379/2013 and Regulation (EU) No 508/2014 as regards specific measures to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak in the fishery and aquaculture sector; Council document 7153/20, COM(20) 142; Legal base: Articles 43(2), 175 TFEU, QMV, Ordinary Legislative Procedure; Department: Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Devolved Administrations: Consulted; ESC number 41170.
Published: 22 September 2020