Seafood Innovation Fund calls for bright ideas
The UK’s Seafood Innovation Fund is offering a further round of £3m to support novel, practical solutions for the seafood industry.
This time, the Fund’s management says, applications for an even wider range of projects than ever will be welcomed.
The Seafood Innovation Fund is part of the £100m Seafood Fund. The latest tranche of £3m takes the Innovation Fund (SIF) to £19m in total.
SIF launched in 2019 and has since supported almost 100 projects across the UK, spanning aquaculture, capture fisheries, and the seafood supply chain. Projects with an aquaculture application include assessing the value of black soldier fly larvae as a feed supplement for farmed trout (pictured), use of multibeam sonar for assessing fish health and biomass and virtual maintenance of fish farms using photogrammetry.
In Round 4, SIF is looking to further diversify the range of work funded. The Fund welcomes applicants and collaborations from across the UK that draw together knowledge from the seafood sector and beyond, and apply novel solutions to sustainability challenges. SIF says it is keen to see ideas aimed at benefiting capture fisheries or the supply chain, as well as aquaculture and other parts of the sector.
Environment Secretary Ranil Jayawardena said: “Britain has a brilliant fishing and aquaculture industry, and we are backing their cutting-edge ideas in order to help the British economy to grow.
“Through the £100m ‘UK Seafood Fund’ we are funding ambitious projects using the latest science and technology to unlock potential across the seafood sector and supply chain.”
Heather Jones, CEO of the Sustainable Aquaculture Innovation Centre (SAIC), sits on the Seafood Innovation Fund steering group. She said: “Building on the success of previous rounds, SIF is again inviting innovative applied solutions to boost the efficiency, effectiveness, and sustainability of the UK’s seafood sector. Applications that address the commercial needs faced by those seeking to farm the seas responsibly, those operating in sustainable wild-caught fisheries, and those who can see ways to improve seafood product quality and shelf-life are warmly welcomed from all quarters of the UK.”
Call 4 opens on 21 September 2022, and the Fund will accept applications until midday on 7 December 2022. For more information on how to apply, visit the SIF website: www.seafoodinnovation.fund/apply/
Project teams are also being offered the opportunity to submit their innovative idea for feedback (in advance of a full application) via an Expression of Interest (EOI) form, up until 31st October 2022. The form can be found at: www.seafoodinnovation.fund/apply-now/
