Orkney Fisheries Association (OFA) has been awarded £22,410.00 from Marine Fund Scotland 2022-23 towards the total project cost of £37,349.00. The award is to purchase a refrigerated vehicle to enable direct sales of local seafood within Orkney, which have been in high demand post covid.

Across Scotland 60 projects have been awarded a combined total of over £13million.

The Marine Fund Scotland was set up because the UK left the EU. It replaces funding for the fishing and seafood sector previously available through the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF).

Other funding went to bodies like KIMO International to remove marine litter and work with school children to raise awareness of the issue, and the Atlantic Salmon Trust to improve information on the pathways of salmon smolts. Many of the awards go towards the fish processing industry and innovative projects for example a project to install and commission seaweed fermentation equipment by the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre, hosted by the University of Strathclyde.