Fishing communities throughout the Highlands and Islands have received an £8.5m (pounds) shot-in-the-arm over the past five years thanks to a European funding initiative.

PESCA, which has now ended, was launched in 1995 as part of the Highlands and Islands Objective 1 programme with the aim of developing skills and commercial prospects for fishermen and other individuals in fishery dependent communities, while ensuring that traditional fishing activity was maintained. Now, a report has outlined the benefits it brought to communities the length and breadth of the Highlands.

The initiative, managed by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) was operated over eight local enterprise company areas from Shetland in the north to Argyll and the Islands in the south. When the initiative ended in December 1999, PESCA funding of £3.2m (pounds) had been matched by another £3.2m (pounds) from public sources and £2.3m (pounds) from the private sector. This total investment has so far created 73 new jobs and safeguarded over 200 others which could otherwise have been lost, dealing a blow to vulnerable communities.

David Smillie, European programme manager in HIE said: "The projects approved under PESCA will provide economic benefits for these communities well into the future and ranged from allowing fishermen to diversify into a wider range of species to helping them add value to their catch. Assistance was also provided to help local communities expand into non-fishing sectors like tourism - lessening their dependence on one industry."

Amongst the wide variety of projects assisted was a new pier at Applecross which will make it a convenient port of call for visiting yachts as well as an important new facility for local fishermen. This will help to increase tourism spending in this part of Ross and Cromarty, and provide additional income for local shops, hotels and visitor attractions. PESCA also helped 15 Argyll fishermen install refrigeration units on their boats to improve the quality of their landed catch as well as allowing them to fish for longer.

Lobster V-notching projects in Orkney, Skye, Lochalsh and the Western Isles were assisted to boost stocks of the shellfish which has recently suffered from over-fishing, and the Oban Port Users Authority received one of the largest individual awards under PESCA to assist with the construction of a new ice plant on the town's South Pier. This investment will help secure the harbour's status as a designated landing port.

Skills development was an important feature of the initiative and costs towards hosting a lobster conference in Orkney and the development of a vocational qualification in shellfish farming through the Shetland Fish Training Association both qualified for assistance.

In Shetland, PESCA allowed the largest gathering of international halibut experts in Europe to discuss the future development of the species, and in the Western Isles eight young fishermen were helped towards their Class II skippers ticket.

David Smillie said: "Although PESCA has now closed, we are still actively involved in paying out grants and monitoring the progress and impact of the projects assisted. We are now looking forward to considering new fisheries projects throughout the Highlands and Islands following the recently approved transitional programme of European assistance which will run until 2006."