A £6.4m (US$10.5m) aid package is to be made available to English fishermen affected by North Sea cod recovery measures, Fisheries Minister Elliot Morley has announced.
Together with the £50m and £5m packages being offered by Scotland and Northern Ireland respectively for the same purpose, the UK fishing industry will have access to a total of over £60m.
The £60m total package is in addition to the £85m already allocated for UK fisheries structural aid in the period 2001-2004.
Morley and the Prime Minister (along with fisheries ministers from Scotland and Northern Ireland) will meet fishing industry representatives from around the UK this afternoon.
Of the £6.4m aid package for English fisherman, £5m has been allocated for the voluntary decommissioning of fishing boats.
