Azorean fishing professionals to receive Fundopesca and additional support for the sector due to COVID-19
The Regional Secretariat for the Sea, Science and Technology, through the Regional Directorate for Fisheries, will pay Fundopesca support to 650 fishing professionals due to income losses resulting from the situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
This salary compensation fund, which was activated on April 23, covers fishers, shipowners, catchers, divers and onshore workers, who will receive an overall amount over 210 thousand Euros.
This is the second time that Fundopesca is activated due to income losses in the sector as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
During this pandemic, more than 420 thousand Euros were paid to the fishing beneficiaries covered by this fund, with each beneficiary receiving an amount equivalent to the regional minimum wage.
The Regional Government has also created an additional income support scheme for fishing professionals in the amount of 350 thousand Euros. It is primarily intended to guarantee subsistence conditions for fishing professionals affected by the disturbance of markets caused by the pandemic, who are not beneficiaries of Fundopesca.
Applications for this additional support measure are open until 12 May and, to date, 250 applications have been approved, amounting to 98,500 Euros.
The Regional Government continues to monitor permanently the situation of the fisheries sector, maintaining contact with industry associations for the planning and adoption of measures intended to minimise the economic impacts on fisheries arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Government continues working on the procedures to anticipate the granting of aid under the Compensation Scheme for Additional Costs in Fisheries, commonly known as POSEI-FISHERIES.
Under the SEA 2020 strategy, the applications submitted by companies and operators in the fisheries sector for financial support specifically directed to the purchase of individual protective equipment and disinfectants were awarded
In turn, the fees and payments for services charged by Lotaçor to producers, fish buyers and the canning industry remain suspended in order to mitigate income loss in the sector due to the retraction of international markets. Additionally, the authorisation for onshore fishing, namely angling, will be force until the end of June, a measure implemented to offset the reduction of income.