Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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181. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to outline the growth and development of the fish processing sector, including landings, over the past ten years; the extent to which he remains satisfied regarding the future development of the sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47283/17]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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In 2016, there were 156 seafood processing enterprises providing close to 4,000 jobs in peripheral coastal communities. Some 24 of these enterprises (16%) had revenues over €10 million, 52 (33%) had revenues between €1 million and €10 million and 80 (51%) had revenues of less than €1 million. The growth and increasing scale of the processing sector can be seen when comparing this to 1999, when only 11 enterprises had revenues of over £5 million, 8 had revenues of between £3 - £5 million, and 6 enterprises had revenues of between £1 - £3 million.   

Our seafood sector (domestic and export) was valued at €945 million in 2016.  This figure represents a 33% increase from a value of €712 million in 2010. The value of our seafood exports increased by 47%, or €180 million, to €559 million in the same period.  Underpinning this growth is the value-add of seafood, which has seen the average unit price of seafood exports increase from €1.67 to €2.71 over the period from 2010 to 2016.

To assist our seafood processing sector in achieving its growth potential in the years ahead, and informed by Food Wise 2025, the Government is focussed on encouraging the sector to add value to fish raw material through increased innovation and development of new consumer products, encouraging the sector to further enhance its scale to make it more competitive on world markets, and encouraging the development and diversification of our export markets.  My Department’s European Maritime and Fisheries Fund Operational Programme is providing the development funding for these objectives and Bord Iascaigh Mhara is delivering those EMFF supports through the Seafood Innovation, Seafood Scaling and Seafood Capital Investment Schemes, while Bord Bia is significantly expanding its seafood promotion programme.