€1.6m in EMFF Grant Awards for Aquaculture Investment and Research - Creed

Minister for Agriculture Food and the Marine, Michael Creed T.D., today announced the award of a further €1,574,611 in grants to 11 aquaculture enterprises and 4 third level research institutions in 8 different counties under the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) Operational Programme for the seafood sector.  The grant awards will support total investment of €3 million in capital investment and applied research in the aquaculture sector.  The grants are co-funded by the Exchequer and EU and subject to terms and conditions.

Minister Creed said, “I am pleased to announce a continued and increasing level of capital investment in our aquaculture sector which will underpin our ambitions to significantly grow our production in the coming years.  I am delighted also to see recent efforts by my Department and BIM to encourage our third level institutions to become involved in the research agenda for the sector coming to fruition with three of our best third level institutions receiving approval for applied research to assist our sector in innovating and developing new technical knowledge to support the sustainable growth of the sector, together with two further industry research projects. This government is committed to building opportunities for those in coastal communities and the seafood sector” 

The grants are made under the EMFFSustainable Aquaculture Scheme and EMFF Knowledge Gateway Scheme.  Both schemes remain open for new applications.

These grant awards contribute to the Action Plan for Rural Development.  

 

 

 

Note to Editors

Ireland’s EMFF Operational Programme 2014-2020 was adopted by the European Commission in December 2015 and launched in January 2016 by the Minister for Agriculture Food and the Marine.  The Programme provides €240m in funding to the seafood sector (fisheries, aquaculture and seafood processing) over the period 2014 to 2020. The Programme is co-funded by the Exchequer and the EU.

Two Schemes are available to the aquaculture sector to help achieve the aims of the National Strategic Plan for Sustainable Aquaculture Development.  The Plan is seeking to sustainably grow production by 45,000 tonnes.  The Sustainable Aquaculture Scheme supports capital investment by licensed aquaculture enterprises to sustainably grow production and reduce environmental impact of aquaculture.  The Knowledge Gateway Scheme promotes and supports innovation, technological development and disease management in the aquaculture sector. 

Bord Iascaigh Mhara has been provided with €26 million of EMFF funds in 2017 to disperse to the seafood sector over 10 EMFF support schemes.

Grant approvals - Sustainable Aquaculture Scheme

Beneficiary	County	Project	Total Investment	EMFF Grant
Trabay Ltd	Donegal	Investment in oyster handling machinery	€83,450	€33,380
PKA Ltd	Waterford	Increase production of oyster farm	€1,251,075	€500,430
Owen & P. Teahon Shellfish Ltd	Kerry	Construction of a fibre glass Orca boat	€8,000	€3,200
Ocean Run Ltd	Cork	Upgrade of mussel handling facilities	€41,350	€16,540
Natura Mussels Ltd	Cork	Increase production of oyster farm	€60,702	€24,281
Cromane Point Oysters Ltd	Kerry	Increase production of oyster farm	€32,398	€12,959
Connemara Seafoods Ltd	Mayo	Increase production of oyster farm	€171,202	€68,480
Atlantic Sea Farms Ltd	Cork	Increase production of rope mussel farm	€134,686	€53,874
Armada Shellfish Company Ltd	Sligo	Increase production of oyster farm	€134,609	€53,843
Bantry Harbour Mussels Ltd	Cork	Mussel Organic Certification	€1,100	€550
TOTAL			€1,918,572	€767,537

  

 

 

    Grant approvals – Knowledge Gateway Scheme

Beneficiary	County	Project	Total Investment	EMFF Grant
Bantry Marine Research Station	Cork	Private research on high-value bio-active compounds from seaweed	€501,180	€200,000
University College Cork	Cork	Public research on integrated multitrophic aquaculture	€232,488	€232,488
National University of Ireland Galway / Athlone Institute of Technology	Galway / Westmeath	Public research on reducing the impact of aquaculture on the environment	€348,781	€348,781
Ocean Farm Ltd	Donegal	Private research on jellyfish bubble curtain trial	€51,610	€25,805
TOTAL			€1,134,049	€807,074

 

 

 

ENDS

 

Date Released: 05 September 2017