The saying ‘don’t look a gift horse in the mouth’ is nonsense. Anyone with animals knows that a free horse could cost dearly in vet bills, so checking all orifices is exactly what you should do.
Reactions to the £360m Fishing & Coastal Growth Fund have been similarly sceptical. The funding will be granted over 12 years and across various ‘coastal’ needs. With so many challenges facing fishing businesses today, how can this new fund provide best value for money for the UK, and the fishing industry and the communities that rely on it?
The recent meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Groups for fisheries and shellfish aquaculture heard a consistent call for action: we need a funding strategy that focusses on economic prosperity and sustainable businesses and ensures that good ideas are swiftly put into application and regulation.
I was one of the speakers, as Executive Director of Fisheries Innovation & Sustainability, the coalition driving innovation for a prosperous UK seafood industry. Innovation can sound a bit ‘nice to have’ in the face of overwhelming everyday needs, but in fact the business benefits of innovation will create lasting, positive change. In 5 years’ time, what technology and working practices will the most efficient vessels use, above and below the water, to deliver high value fish to the best markets, supported by skilled jobs and thriving communities?
FIS projects to develop new technology have benefitted from government funds and, of course, our members are grateful for this support. But project funding isn’t enough in itself. For projects to offer value for money, funding must also help develop business advice for adopting new tech, support early adopters so they’re not at a commercial disadvantage, and make sure regulation isn’t a barrier to the very improvements industry is trying to make.
Many charges against the seafood industry are false, but there’s something even more disheartening – a media ‘exposé’ of a problem that the seafood industry is taking steps to improve, but with our hands tied behind our backs. Imagine what we could do with multi-year, flexible funding which allows industry to solve problems in ways that are safe, economically viable and – precisely because of that – effective.
The Fishing & Coastal Growth Fund is an opportunity to focus on priority areas to support fishing businesses: market access, crewing and labour, spatial squeeze, environment and biodiversity impacts, new rules on animal welfare and decarbonisation. With flexible funding and supportive regulation, industry-led solutions will lead to growth, through innovation in marketing, technology, science, recruitment, and training.
This is an opportunity for real change. Imagine skills hubs in our coastal communities, creating training programmes that bring skippers with decades of experience together with new talent, to attract and retain crew, on and offshore, that are highly skilled and ready for changes in the maritime sector. Imagine tech hubs, where fishermen are compensated for sharing their expertise with engineers and scientists, accelerating gear improvements with an agreed pathway into regulation by well-resourced government departments.
So let’s plan for change, with a funding strategy that understands the complexities of testing equipment at sea – that you can no sooner control the weather than you can force a skipper to test kit in winter storms, no matter when a grant deadline falls.
A funding strategy will stop money being allocated ‘first come first served’, which really only serves to recycle the same old ideas from those with the capacity to fill out the forms. We need a funding strategy that supports game-changing, business-savvy responses to new problems, with grants frontloaded to allow businesses to get financial advice, write business plans and seek match funding.
With political will and an appetite for change, the Fishing & Coastal Growth Fund could move the dial for UK seafood, for prosperous businesses, thriving communities, healthy seas, and skilled and safe jobs producing low carbon superfood. We’re worth it, you’ve earned it, and the opportunity is now.
Kara Brydson
Executive Director
Fisheries Innovation & Sustainability
