Funding opportunities

Seafish encourages fishermen to develop their skills and knowledge by taking-up training opportunities. Whilst we are unable to subsidise mandatory training, we can provide funding towards the cost of voluntary training. We utilise our levy funding to draw down other sources of external funding, which is used wherever possible to support pan-UK initiatives. The information below describes what funding we have currently avaialble.

Refresher Safety Training
Experienced fishermen who completed their mandatory safety training more than three years ago, can re-attend the newly updated Seafish Sea Survival, Fire Fighting, First Aid and Safety Awareness courses, free-of-charge. Thanks to funding from Seafish, the Department for Transport, the European Fisheries Fund, Seafarers UK, Trinity House and the Scottish Fishermen's Trust, Seafish is able to fund delivery of 7,500 training places throughout the UK until 31 August 2013. Call Seafish Training on 01472 252302 or email training@seafish.co.uk for further information.

New Entrant Training
In response to difficulties being faced by fishing industry in recruiting new crew members, Seafish developed a 3-week Introduction to Commercial Fishing course. The course (which can be delivered flexibly) will ensure that new entrants are safely trained (free-of-charge) to a level higher than the minimum legal requirements and promote progression onto Government-funded Apprenticeship programmes. Thanks to funding from Seafish and the European Fisheries Fund, Seafish is able to fund delivery of 20 Introduction to Commercial Fishing courses across the UK until 30 September 2012. Call Seafish Training on 01472 252302 or email training@seafish.co.uk for further information.

Under 16.5m Skipper's Certificate
Thanks to funding from Seafish, the Department of Transport and the European Fisheries Fund, Seafish has been able to reinstate funding for experienced fishermen undertaking courses linked to its Under 16.5m Skipper's Certificate. The courses provided free-of-charge are Bridge Watchkeeping (2-day and 5-day), Engineroom Watchkeeping (1-day, 2-day and 5-day), Intermediate Stability Awareness (1-day) and GMDSS Short Range Certificate (1- or 2-day). Funding is available until 31 March 2012. Call Seafish Training on 01472 252302 or email training@seafish.co.uk for further information.

Grants
Thanks to funding from Seafish, the Department of Transport and the European Fisheries Fund, Seafish has been able to reinstate grants of up to £1,000 for experienced fishermen undertaking MCA (Fishing Vessel) Deck and Engineer Officer Certificates of Competency. Funding is available until 31 March 2012. Call Seafish Training on 01472 252302 or email training@seafish.co.uk for further information.