NORWAY: grants for young fishermen

Minister for Fisheries and Coastal Affairs has decided to allocate 30 grants amounting to NOK 250.000 (USD 36,000) each to enable young fishermen to establish thelselves as boat owners and enter the fishery.

Here is the link to the offical press release in Norwegian):

http://www.regjeringen.no/nb/dep/fkd/pressesenter/pressemeldinger/2009/etablerer-stipendordning-og-deltakeradga.html?id=546894

MEXICO: subsidies in sight for the Mexican fleet?

In the past weeks Mexican fishermen having been staging protests against price increases in diesel. Some of them had even threatened to block oil installation of PEMEX, the Mexican oil company.

The actions by fishermen were ended after representatives from government and from fishermen signed a memorandum of undertanding on 31 january 2009. The memorandum contained a number of provisions whereby money will be provided by the government for scrapping of vessels.

Eventhough the detailed content of the memorandum of understanding, the press has quoted representatives of the fishermen as saying that a total of 170 million Mexican Pesos (11.7 million USD) will be paid to fishermen for scrapping of vessels.

Here is the link to the press release by the government (in Spanish):

http://www.presidencia.gob.mx/prensa/sagarpa/?contenido=41976

This is a link to a press article with statements from the fishermen representatives:

http://www.poresto.net/campeche/19750--retiraran-mas-barcos

NORWAY: millions of Norwegian krona for the fishing industry

After a few hesitations the Norwegian Government is putting in place a number of measures to help the fishing industry in Norway.

One of the measures consists of a government subsidy of 11.5 million Norwegian Krona (or 1.7 million USD) for the marketing of cod products in Portugal, Spain, Sweden, France but also in Norway.

Another major measure is the establishment of a guarantee fund amounting to 525 million Norwegian Krona (77.2 million USD) for the "first sale" of fish.

More information can be found in the following webpages (in Norwegian):

Guarantee fund:

http://www.regjeringen.no/nb/dep/fkd/pressesenter/pressemeldinger/2009/ny-ordning-for-garantier-til-fiskerinari.html?id=545107

Marketing of cod:

http://www.regjeringen.no/nb/dep/fkd/pressesenter/pressemeldinger/2009/ekstraordinar-markedsinnsats-for-torsk.html?id=544864