The Danish government has announced that €200 million of its European Maritime Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund will be will be dedicated to improve resource efficiency and competitiveness of SMEs in the aquaculture sector and in the protection and restoration of biodiversity, through innovation and development of selective fishing gear and river restoration.
In an announcement via the European Commission, Denmark highlighted its commitment to including fisheries and aquaculture industries in the nation’s green transition, allowing them to remain sustainable and profitable moving forward. The fund is part of the country’s “ambitious goal of a greener, more connected and more inclusive country.”
“Europe’s blue economy plays a crucial role in decarbonising our economy. This Partnership Agreement will allow Denmark to build a resilient, sustainable and low-carbon fisheries and aquaculture sector and to further develop its aquatic environment and resources sustainably of the fishery and aquaculture sector,” Virginijus Sinkevičius, the European Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, said.
Denmark shipped 196,452 metric tonnes of salmon in 2020, an increase on the 109,535 metric tonnes shipped in 2019. The annual turnover of the fish processing industry in Denmark in 2020 alone was nearly 14 billion Danish Kroner (€1.9 billion).
