BIM has today (Monday 12 September) announced the Brexit Voluntary Permanent Cessation (“decommissioning”) Scheme is open for applications.

 

The purpose of the scheme is to restore balance between the fishing fleet capacity and available quotas following quota reductions arising from the Brexit Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) between the EU and the UK. The scheme follows from a recommendation of the Seafood Task Force, established by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue TD, in 2021,

The scheme will support vessels in the polyvalent and beam trawl segments to permanently cease all fishing activity, increasing the quota available for remaining vessels, and thereby ensuring the sustainable profitability of the Irish fishing fleet.

The target of the voluntary scheme, as recommended by the Task Force, is to remove up to 60 vessels of 8,000 GT and 21,000 KW at a cost of €60million.  The aid amount will be calculated on the basis of the capacity of the scrapped vessel along with a catch sum payment. The catch sum payment is based on the dependence of the vessel on quotas that were reduced under the TCA Agreement.

The total aid amount for any applicant will not exceed €12,000 per GT and part of the aid should be passed to crew members. To incentivise participation in the scheme, vessel owners and crew members will also benefit from specific tax treatment as set out in the Finance (Covid-19 and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act

Licence holders of fishing vessels registered on the Irish sea-fishing boat register in the polyvalent or beam trawl segments and holding a valid sea-fishing boat license issued by the Licensing Authority for Sea-Fishing boats are being invited to apply.

The deadline for submission of applications is 10am, Monday 24 October, 2022.

More information, including details on eligibility and on how to apply can be found by visiting www.bim.ie