The fund, which will be opened until 20 April 2020, will help gather ideas from experts in the fishing, aquaculture and seafood processing sectors
Applications are invited for a second round of the £10m UK Seafood Innovation Fund (Credit: Crown copyright)
The UK Seafood Innovation Fund is seeking a second round of applications for innovation projects to transform the seafood industry.
The fund, which will be opened until 20 April 2020, will help gather ideas from experts in the fishing, aquaculture and seafood processing sectors.
Applicants can apply for up to £50,000 for a three-month feasibility study or up to £250,000 for research and development (R&D) project lasting up to 18 months.
UK Seafood Innovation Fund Steering chair professor Fiona Lettice said: “We are looking for projects that can genuinely transform or disrupt the seafood industry. These should be innovative ideas that aim to make a significant improvement to the future sustainability, profitability and efficiency of any part of the seafood sector.”
The applicants in the areas of robotics, AI, fishing gear innovations and biomedical secured the funding in the first round.
The UK government to support innovative ideas to enhance the seafood sector
The UK government has pledged to support innovative ideas to improve the sustainability, profitability and efficiency of any part of the seafood sector.
The UK fishing vessels are said to capture around 700,000 tonnes of fish and shellfish, worth £989m, per annum.
In 2019, the funds have been provided to expand the seafood sector ranging from fishing boats to product sales.
One project intends to address the issue of seabird bycatch through assessing and developing better ways to sink longlines below the surface. It will help improve fishing profitability for skippers in parallel.
Another project will study how data can be efficiently used in the industry, helping to maintain resilience across the seafood supply chain and facilitate compliance with fisheries management.
The R&D funding will help develop Inocubot 2 artificially intelligent robot for the aquaculture sector. The advanced robot will help enhance fish welfare and deliver economic efficiencies for fish farms.
Additionally, a project to develop two new high-value products for human consumption hopes to present seaweed as a nutritious treat and explore fertile opportunities to expand the UK’s kelp farming industry in the UK.
The UK fisheries minister George Eustice said: “We want a profitable and sustainable fisheries industry that can take every advantage of the opportunities as we become an independent coastal state.”
In January this year, the UK Parliament introduced a new agriculture bill to boost farming productivity and protect against environmental impacts.