{"id":214291,"date":"2025-10-21T00:10:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T00:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/214291\/"},"modified":"2025-10-21T00:10:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T00:10:11","slug":"scottish-government-hits-out-over-totally-unacceptable-fishing-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/214291\/","title":{"rendered":"Scottish Government hits out over ‘totally unacceptable’ fishing deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n On Monday, the UK Government announced a total of \u00a3360 million of investment through the new Fishing and Coastal Growth Fund, with \u00a356m of the funding allocated to Scotland (\u00a328m), Wales (\u00a318m) and Northern Ireland (\u00a310m).\n<\/p>\n

\n Announcing the funding, which was allocated to each nation based on the Barnett Formula, Fisheries Minister Angela Eagle said the money will \u201crevitalise\u201d the fishing sector and coastal communities across the UK by \u201csupporting\u201d devolved governments.\n<\/p>\n

\n However, Rural Affairs Secretary Gougeon has hit out at the UK Government\u2019s lack of allotment of funding for Scotland, \u201cgiven the size and importance\u201d of the country\u2019s fishing industry to the economy.\n<\/p>\n

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\n Gougeon added that the 7% allocated is \u201cdisastrously short\u201d of the 46% share of investment the Scottish Government<\/a> sought based on the share Scotland previously received from the EU’s funding to the UK.\n<\/p>\n

\n (Image: PA)\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe UK Government has chosen to ignore the needs of Scotland\u2019s fishing industry and coastal communities with this totally unacceptable allocation of funds, yet again demonstrating that they do not understand or indeed care about our fishing industry,\u201d she said.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe Scottish fishing sector accounts for almost half of the UK industry and an allocation of just 7.78% of the budget (\u00a328 million out of a total of \u00a3360 million) is a totally unacceptable share given the size and importance of the fishing industry to Scotland\u2019s economy.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt is disastrously short of the \u00a3166 million, or 46% share of funding, that we sought based on the share Scotland previously received from the EU funding allocated to the UK. This leaves the industry in England benefitting from more than \u00a3300 million of the total funding.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n In August, experts said Scottish salmon export sales could break through the \u00a31 billion barrier<\/a> for the first time, driven by growing international demand.\n<\/p>\n

\n Figures showed that salmon export sales jumped 33% to \u00a3941m in the year to the end of June 2025.\n<\/p>\n

\n Meanwhile, UK vessels landed a total of 719 thousand tonnes of sea fish with a value of \u00a31.1bn in 2023, with Scottish vessels landing 501 thousand tonnes of sea fish and shellfish equating to a value of around \u00a3683m.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n (Image: CA Creative on Unsplash)\n<\/p>\n

\n Gougeon added: \u201cThis disproportionate allocation of funding comes at a time when the Scottish fishing industry is dealing with multiple pressures, from the agreement to extend EU access to Scottish waters, to the ongoing discussions on cod and mackerel quotas for 2026.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThis decision is an insult to Scotland and its vital fishing industry. It will remove the previously agreed approach for fisheries funding linked to fishing effort and we are concerned that it may lead to a competitive advantage for the English sector, with greater subsidy of the applicable costs.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cThis decision must be reversed because it is unjustifiable and it is unacceptable. As a matter of urgency I am writing to the UK Government calling for this decision to be reconsidered.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Monday, the UK Government announced a total of \u00a3360 million of investment through the new Fishing and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":214292,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1397,90,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-214291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214291\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}