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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what new financial support they will allocate to support building a (1) sustainable, (2) low carbon, fishing industry.

The £100 million UK Seafood Fund has been carefully crafted to support projects that will support the long-term viability of the sector. This is being done through all four elements, infrastructure, science and innovation, skills and training, and exports.

Additionally, one of the UK Seafood Fund’s overarching objectives is to increase environmental sustainability. It is one of the mandatory criteria that applicants must cover if applying under the Infrastructure pillar.

Funding is also available to enable each of the devolved administrations to deliver their own grant funding schemes. The scheme for England – the Fisheries and Seafood Scheme – has driven meaningful change to increase sustainability, provide world-class fisheries management and support a thriving marine environment.

The Marine Management Organisation is looking to relaunch the Fisheries and Seafood Scheme this month. The new iteration of the scheme will continue to deliver investment to safeguard the long-term sustainability, resilience and prosperity of the seafood sector across England. It will include support for projects that limit carbon emissions, reduce the environmental impact of fishing, enable the collection of marine litter, and deliver professional advice for seafood businesses on environmental sustainability.