Grants worth over €70,000 have been awarded to seafood enterprises in Kerry.19 aquaculture and seafood processing enterprises around the country have been award.
Kilmore Quay-based company Sofrimar has received €28,260 in grant funding from the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund Programme (EMFF).
The money will be used for the trial and rental of equipment for converting waste products to powder for use in horticulture and is part of national funding worth than €1 million to nine seafood processing companies.
Announcing the funding, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue T.D., I am very pleased to support these nine seafood enterprises to further grow their business. These are particularly challenging times with both Covid and Brexit impacting on markets and the ongoing capital investment by our seafood sector is evidence of its resilience and its optimism for future growth prospects.
Over €300,000 funding for Louth oyster farms welcomed
Reporter:
);
Local Fine Gael TD, Fergus O’Dowd, has welcomed news that two Louth aquaculture companies have secured €311k in funding through the Department of Agriculture’s European Maritime and Fisheries Fund Programme.
Deputy O’Dowd said “Keenan Oysters Ltd have been awarded €179k through the EMFF to increase the production area of their oyster farm, the cost of the project will see a total investment of €448k. Separately Cooley Oysters Ltd have been awarded €132k through the EMFF to develop capacity building and expanding of their oyster farm in a project that will see a total investment of €330k.
Aquaculture Information
Aquaculture is the farming of animals in the water and has been practised for centuries, with the monks farming fish in the middle ages. More recently the technology has progressed and the aquaculture sector is now producing in the region of 50 thousand tonnes annually and provides a valuable food product as well as much needed employment in many rural areas of Ireland.
A typical fish farm involves keeping fish in pens in the water column, caring for them and supplying them with food so they grow to market size. Or for shellfish, containing them in a specialised unit and allowing them to feed on natural plants and materials in the water column until they reach harvestable size. While farming fish has a lower carbon and water footprint to those of land animals, and a very efficient food fed to weight gain ratio compared to beef, pork or chicken, farming does require protein food sources and produces organic waste which is released into the surrounding waters.