The latest round of the Fisheries and Seafood Scheme (FaSS) is now open, supporting projects that ‘strengthen England’s seafood sector and support economic growth while enhancing nature recovery’.

Administered by the MMO on behalf of Defra, around £6m in funding will be made available to seafood and marine businesses, the recreational sector, charities and other organisations.

The latest round of funding is available to support projects in the 2025/2026 financial year which focus on the following priorities:

  • Creating a sustainable and resilient seafood sector
  • Reducing emissions and waste from the sector
  • Cleaning up rivers, lakes, seas and supporting nature recovery
  • Boosting regional and economic growth within the seafood sector.

This funding is separate from the £360m Fishing and Coastal Growth Fund that was announced last month. Fisheries minister Daniel Zeichner said: “I’m thrilled to further invest in our exceptional seafood industry, demonstrating our steadfast support for England’s coastal communities alongside our substantial £360m Fishing and Coastal Growth Fund. “This is on top of our new agreement with the EU, which will boost exports by making it easier for producers to sell their high-quality products to our largest trading partner.

“This government is committed to creating a sustainable seafood sector that grows local economies while safeguarding our precious marine habitats, all central to our Plan for Change.”

Paul Errington, acting director of finance and resources at the MMO, added: “We’re proud to facilitate the delivery of continued financial support through FaSS, which has already had a real impact across England’s fishing communities and coast.

“This new round of funding will deliver investment to safeguard the long-term sustainability, resilience and prosperity of England’s catching, aquaculture and processing sectors, as well as continue efforts to protect our precious marine environment.”

The first four years of the scheme saw more than £35m committed and over 1,700 projects approved.

You can find out more, access scheme guidance and submit your application here.

Applications with a total project cost of over £150,000 must be considered by the FaSS panel, and need to be submitted by 21 July. The panel is expected to meet to consider these during the week commencing 8 September.

MMO staff are available to provide advice to those considering applying. Telephone: 0208 026 5539 or email: FaSS.queries@marinemanagement.org.uk

“The list is very narrow”

The announcement of the reopening of FaSS has not been met with a huge fanfare from the fishing industry, with the small print in the latest round ruling out many potential applications.

This is particularly the case with changes to financial support for vessel safety measures, where, the guidance notes state, ‘eligibility has been changed to focus on key areas of prevention/assistance in man-overboard situations and vessel capsize’.

Whilst grants of up to 80% will be available to under-12m vessels, for equipment that includes PLBs, PFDs and liferafts for under-7m vessels (if they can carry one safely!), a range of other vessel safety improvements are no longer eligible. Several boatyards have expressed concern that work they were expecting from larger boats applying for FaSS grants to invest in improved safety and working conditions for crew was now unlikely to go ahead.

“With budgets for FaSS being so small, and some of the £6m ringfenced anyway for processors, we are not going to see many of the smaller refurbishment jobs we expected from this round of funding,” one South West yard told FN. “This type of work doesn’t make the headlines like a new boat does, but is essential to keep us busy during downturns in the build cycle.”

A safety consultant who was involved in multiple small safety applications in previous rounds of FaSS told FN: “Basically, the FaSS budget is much reduced this year, so Defra in its wisdom has consulted MCA (not industry) on what should be considered eligible under the vessel and crew safety line.

“The list is very narrow, and so the scope for vessel improvements is limited. Either fishermen won’t bother, will do the work themselves, or will choose the cheapest short-term options. None of this is a good look. The main worry, though, is that it sends a very poor message about safety, which should be at the top of priorities.”

Other work to improve fishing vessels’ carbon footprints and efficiency remains eligible for FaSS support, including improvements to hull dynamics through fitting new bulbous bows, bow thrusters or bilge keels, or refitting with more efficient propellors or fuel management systems, as long as they do not increase the overall fishing power of a vessel.

This story was taken from the latest issue of Fishing News. For more up-to-date and in-depth reports on the UK and Irish commercial fishing sector, subscribe to Fishing News here or buy the latest single issue for just £3.50 here. 

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