Saving Seafood

Scotland’s seafood industry fears a return to border chaos

May 19, 2022 — The U.K. government’s intention to introduce new legislation that makes swift changes to the post-Brexit rules surrounding the checking of goods at the Irish border has drawn fire from Scotland’s seafood industry, particularly the farmed salmon sector.

U.K. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss told the House of Commons on 17 May that the Northern Ireland Protocol, introduced in 2021, had caused unforeseen problems, including “unnecessary bureaucracy” for goods moving between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Truss said that a proposed Northern Ireland Protocol Bill would mean that British goods destined for sale in Northern Ireland would only have to meet U.K. standards, and not those of the European Union. She said that while the government’s preference is to reach a negotiated outcome with the E.U. and that months of talks had already taken place, the urgency of the situation meant that the government would be prepared to act without reaching such an agreement.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

Scottish salmon exports return to pre-Brexit, pre-COVID levels

February 15, 2022 — Exports of farm-raised Scottish salmon, the United Kingdom’s most valuable food export, recovered to near-record figures in 2021.

According to official HMRC figures, overseas sales of salmon in 2021 increased by 36 percent year-over-year to GBP 614 million (USD 832.7 million, EUR 732.4 million), just GBP 4 million (USD 5.4 million, EUR 4.8 million) short of 2019’s all-time high.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

In Scotland, Serving Halibut for a Better Planet

November 30, 2021 — Inver restaurant is but a speck on the longest sea loch in Scotland. From its windows, a diner can see the remnants of a 15th-century castle and the rolling hills of the Highlands, but the breakout star is not the view. It’s a meaty halibut head that the chef Pam Brunton grills over wood and finishes with melted homemade ’nduja and a tangle of grilled green onions.

The small halibut she butchers have been raised in sea-fed pens on the Isle of Gigha, a nearby community-owned island whose farmed halibut have become the darling of people who care a lot about where their fish and shellfish come from.

Ms. Brunton, who could be Alice Waters’s Scottish niece, runs Inver with her partner, Rob Latimer. The tiny restaurant and inn is about 70 miles from Glasgow, where in November heads of state, including President Biden, thousands of diplomats and a flood of environmental activists like Greta Thunberg gathered for COP26, the United Nations global climate conference.

Ms. Brunton’s halibut heads may not seem like much of a hedge against the catastrophic effects of fossil fuel and methane gas emissions, but a group of cooks and diners here say that putting sustainable Scottish seafood on the plate is at least one tangible (and delicious) move toward a better planet. The shift is away from fin and shellfish whose populations are threatened by climate change or harvesting practices.

Read the full story at The New York Times

Scottish salmon producers defy border chaos with record EU exports

May 17, 2021 — Scotland’s salmon farmers exported a record volume of fresh fish to E.U. markets in the first-quarter of 2021, overcoming the significant post-Brexit supply disruptions experienced in the first weeks of the year.

According to figures compiled by the Scottish Salmon Producers Organization (SSPO) – from information supplied by all of the country’s salmon producers – some 19,410 metric tons (MT) of fish, worth more than GBP 100 million (USD 116 million, EUR 141 million), were exported to the E.U. in Q1 2021. This volume represented an increase of more than 8,200 MT or 74 percent over the corresponding period of last year.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

FIS looks to satellite tech for new opportunities to elevate Scottish seafood

April 21, 2021 — As part of its strategy to advance the sustainability and prosperity of Scottish fisheries, Fisheries Innovation Scotland (FIS) has commissioned Edinburgh, Scotland-based company Space Intelligence to conduct “blue sky” research into the potential benefits of utilizing satellite technology within the sector.

With Space Intelligence specializing in Earth observation and transforming satellite data into actionable information, the project will encompass a “pioneering review” of the role that satellite technology could play in supporting Scottish fisheries, FIS said, adding that this is the first time that a satellite technology company has supported the sector in this way.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

New seafood task force to tackle UK export problems

February 8, 2021 — A new task force has been set up by the government of the United Kingdom to help resolve export issues that have disrupted Scotland’s seafood sector following the end of the Brexit transition period on 31 December, 2020.

The Scottish Seafood Exports Task Force will meet every two weeks with representatives from the U.K. government and the catching, processing, and aquaculture sectors, starting this week.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Millions made available for Scotland’s struggling seafood sector

February 3, 2021 — Scotland’s seafood sector is gettting a boost from the government as the industry continues to struggle with both the COVID-19 pandemic and trade issues caused by Brexit.

The new GBP 7.75 million (USD 10.4 million, EUR 8.7 million) funding package offers support to Scotland’s fishermen, seafood businesses, and ports and harbors, all of whom have been threatened by the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 coronavirus as well as the United Kingdom’s exit from the E.U., the Scottish government has confirmed.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Scottish seafood industry seeks government support in wake of Brexit fallout

January 20, 2021 — Scottish Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing has pressed the United Kingdom’s government to increase its support for the Scottish seafood sector as it struggles to come to terms with the challenges of trying to export products to European Union markets following the introduction of the new Brexit trade agreement on 1 January.

U.K. exporters have faced lengthy delays in transporting goods to Continental Europe due to the new customs and export certification requirements laid out by the terms of the non-tariff barriers in the trade agreement. With the COVID-19 pandemic already affecting both national and international trade, and also significantly curtailing the hospitality trade, this latest obstacle has caused considerable additional concern for those moving seafood and other perishable products, Ewing said.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

UK government blamed for seafood border disruptions

January 13, 2021 — The inability of the U.K. government to establish a trade agreement with the E.U. well before the end of the Brexit transition period on 31 December, 2020, and a failure to include a bedding-in period that would have allowed exporters to adjust to the new demands, are the main reasons why seafood businesses are encountering disruptions at the border, according to Scottish Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing.

On 24 December, negotiators from the E.U. and the U.K. reached an agreement on a new partnership, which set out the rules that have applied between the two parties since 1 January, 2021. It covers such areas as trade in goods and services, fisheries, ensuring a level playing field, internal security, and the U.K.’s participation in E.U. programs, Ewing said.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Scotland’s Seafood Industry Is Already Reeling from Brexit

January 12, 2021 — By ending a 27-year-old union, Brexit was sure to come with some growing pains. But with less than two weeks under their belt, some in the Scottish fishing industry are wondering if what they’re feeling is more akin to death throes.

As Reuters reported on Friday, the additional red tape caused by the United Kingdom’s exit from the EU has led to major issues for the Scottish fishing industry which has relied on seamless next-day transport of fresh seafood to customers on the European mainland. Since Brexit became official on January 1, shipping Scottish langoustines, scallops, oysters, lobsters, and mussels to places like France, Belgium, and Spain has suddenly been slower and more expensive—and some businesses wonder if their models will remain sustainable.

Due to new paperwork like health certificates and customs declarations, one-day deliveries were reportedly taking three days or more. And DFDS Scotland—a major logistics company for the industry—admitted to a mix of IT and paperwork issues. “These businesses are not transporting toilet rolls or widgets. They are exporting the highest quality, perishable seafood which has a finite window to get to markets in peak condition,” Donna Fordyce, chief executive of Seafood Scotland, told the BBC over the weekend. “If the window closes, these consignments go to landfill.”

And speaking of paperwork, one Scottish exporter told Reuters that paperwork alone could cost him over $800 a day. “I’m questioning whether to carry on,” he explained. “If our fish is too expensive our customers will buy elsewhere.”

Read the full story at Food & Wine