Huw Irranca-Davies, Deputy First Minister for Wales, with responsibility for Climate Change and Rural Affairs.
Photo: Llywodraeth Cymru / Welsh Government.
The Welsh Government has announced a significant funding opportunity for the marine, fisheries, and aquaculture sectors in Wales, with a total of £1.4 million allocated to the Welsh Marine and Fisheries Scheme, aimed at fostering sustainable growth, supporting coastal communities, and enhancing the sector’s resilience and efficiency.
A range of activities are eligible for financial support under the funding scheme. These include the enhancement of aquaculture sites and installing energy-efficient equipment on vessels to reduce emissions, accessing professional advice on marine environment sustainability, business strategies, and marketing, and acquiring optional health and safety items for vessels or land-based operations.
The funding, split evenly between £700,000 in revenue and £700,000 in capital, is available to applicants over a 10-week application window, closing on 24 March 2025. Grants range from a minimum of £500 to a maximum of £100,000 per application, enabling a wide variety of projects to be supported under 11 distinct categories.
In the last funding round, grants supported a range of initiatives, including ice machines, weighing scales, vessel modifications for energy efficiency, and marine evidence-gathering projects.
"The Welsh Marine and Fisheries Scheme is designed to create opportunities within the marine environment, coastal communities and sustainable seafood across the whole supply chain, from production to processing and marketing," said Huw Irranca-Davies, Deputy First Minister for Wales, with responsibility for Climate Change and Rural Affairs, in a press release.
"Our aquaculture, marine and fisheries sector brings many important benefits. It provides a low carbon, high-quality protein food source, which can support future food security, and can also deliver high skilled jobs," he continued.
"A broad range of activities can be supported, and I’d encourage those with an interest to make use of the funding – to seek opportunities for growth, diversification and innovation and use the scheme to build a more prosperous, fairer and greener Wales," Irranca-Davies added.
The Welsh Government, in collaboration with the Welsh Fisherman's Association, is offering free, independent support for applicants available through the Fishing Animateur project, which provide hands-on support to identify, develop and find funding for projects for the fishing sector.
In order to be eligible, applicants must be based in Wales and be a Welsh marine, seafood or aquaculture enterprise, or alternatively, a public sector body or charity. Applicants must also be registered with Rural Payments Wales (RPW) Online, where the application and claims processes can also be found. Full details of the funding scheme can be viewed here.
