Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Pollack compensation scheme, whether he made an assessment of the potential merits of compensating for shore-based supply chain losses as part of that scheme.

The direction given was to support those vessel owners that have been most impacted by the bycatch only TAC this year. As there is finite funding available, the pollack compensation scheme is focused on providing funding to vessel owners whose income is mainly derived from pollack and who made at least 30% of their reported landings income in 2023 from pollack.

Shore based businesses, though not eligible for compensation, are still able to apply for grant funding from the Fisheries and Seafood Scheme, which provides funding on a first come first served basis.