Scottish companies Denholm Seafoods, Mowi Scotland and Aquascot are among those receiving funding to boost the UK fishing industry through projects to upgrade infrastructure.
The Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) also announced that the second round of investment has opened for bids from the UK-wide £100m Seafood Fund, to modernise the sector.
Winning projects set to receive a share of £20m include the expansion of processing facilities for fish like Scottish salmon.
As well as announcing the winners from the first round of this scheme, the UK Government also confirmed a further £30m will be made available for infrastructure projects.
The infrastructure scheme also supports businesses to become more environmentally sustainable, with successful bidders in the first round investing in technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to more reusable materials.
Fisheries Minister Mark Spencer said: "Fishing communities are an important part of the UK’s heritage and they make a valuable contribution to our economy, so we are backing them with funds to boost growth and opportunities across the industry.
"This funding will ensure seafood businesses throughout the supply chain are well-equipped to keep pace with increasing demand at home and abroad, boosting production and sustainability and building a resilient sector for the future."
Successful bidders from the first round of infrastructure funding will receive a share of £20m from the government, matched with nearly £50m of investment from private sources.
Allan Stephen, director at Denholm Seafoods, commented: " Securing the DEFRA grant will enable us to invest in our new freezing and production facilities which will maintain our high quality product."
DEFRA awarded £2.9m to Denholm to install six automatic plate freezers, five packing machines, a strapper, palletiser and wrapper.
This is part of a £30m development to increase production and freezing throughput of premium quality mackerel and herring landed at Peterhead.
The project should increase the processing and production capability of mackerel by five tonnes per annum, along with freezing and packing throughput capability by 340 tonnes (74%) per day to 800 tonnes per day.
On-site cold storage will also increase to stop the transfer of fish to and from Dundee, removing a total of 11,322 miles or energy wastage of 10,972 kwh.
Another £2m was given to Mowi Scotland to buy equipment that will rapidly process fish and improve despatching of their premium salmon, part of a wider project to expand and modernise its Fort William-based aquaculture processing facility.
The project should increase throughput from 65,000 tonnes to at least 95,000 tonnes per year, while reducing the number of single use polystyrene boxes by 40% by 2026. Automated systems will also be introduced to reduce manual labour.
Alness-based Aquascot got £3.7m to build a new, sustainably-designed salmon processing facility adjacent to its existing salmon and trout facility.
The project is aimed at doubling production capability from 90 tonnes to 180 tonnes, while reducing carbon emissions.
For the second round of the scheme, businesses will have until March 2025 to deliver their transformational projects.
DEFRA will also shortly announce successful applicants from the Fisheries Industry Science Partnerships (FISP) scheme, part of the UK Seafood Fund, which funds data collection and research to support sustainable fisheries management. The final FISP round will launch in December.
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