Saving Seafood

How Scottish salmon exports its way around the world and maintains its reputation

June 20, 2019 — Three days, that’s all it takes. That’s the maximum time needed to get salmon from the cold waters of a pristine sea loch in the far north-west of Scotland to an upmarket restaurant in Beijing, Sydney or Cape Town. Often it’s quicker than that. Salmon harvested just after midnight in Mallaig are in the main transport hub at Larkhall, just off the M74 south of Glasgow, by lunchtime that day, often arriving at Heathrow the same evening.

Sent out in the bellies of passenger aircraft, the fish can then be presented on dinner plates in New York the following day.

Salmon is Scotland’s biggest food export and in the top-three of UK food exports too.

It is, quite clearly, a hugely successful product. It is renowned globally for its quality and regularly comes top of surveys rating the best salmon in the world.

But, because it is a perishable product, the routes to market have to be swift. That is why so much effort goes into getting from the sea to the customer as quickly as possible.

That is also why the harvesting often begins at midnight. That way, the normally quiet hours of the night are utilised to transport the fish and get them to the processors by the morning.

There they will be packed in ice boxes and sent to Larkhall.

Read the full story at The Scotsman

New aquaculture regulations for Scotland; Salmon farms could get bigger

June 7, 2019 — A new, evidence-based regulatory framework has been introduced for Scotland’s finfish aquaculture sector by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA).

Launched following 22 months of work by SEPA, the framework implements proposals announced in November 2018, which were subject to a country-wide consultation. According to the public body, it takes advantage of more accurate computer-modeling approaches that will improve understanding of the risks to the local environment and allow assessment of the larger-scale impacts including interactions with other farms.

SEPA acknowledged that the science about fish-farming is “very complex” and said that the new approach would bring the sector up to date with the modeling practices used for other industrial sectors where there is a longer history of operation and analysis.

SEPA Chief Executive Terry A’Hearn said the new framework was an “important milestone” for the sector.

“It makes powerfully clear our aspirations and requirement that the industry reach and maintain full compliance with Scotland’s environmental protection laws, where SEPA will help those investing in innovation and moving beyond compliance,” he said.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Insight: Scottish fishing industry fears radical measures to protect marine life

May 20, 2019 — Loch Carron is a breathtakingly beautiful spot in the northwest Highlands, surrounded by imposing mountains and nature at its most sublime. Less obvious is the beauty that lies beneath the waves. The area is home to rare marine life with international importance.

The seabed hosts the world’s largest known flame shell bed, with an estimated 250 million of the brightly colored mollusks. The reef provides important habitat and nursery grounds for many other species.

Today is a special day for that sea loch and perhaps also for Scotland. An incident took place here two years ago that has proved a turning point in the way the country’s inshore waters are to be managed.

A fishing crew wreaked havoc on the reef while dredging for scallops, leaving barren scars across the seabed and a trail of smashed up marine life in their wake.

Read the full story at The Scotsman

Report: Scottish wild salmon catches at record low

April 28, 2019 — Scotland’s salmon catches reached the lowest level on record in 2018, according to new figures published by the Scottish government.

The “Salmon fishery statistics: 2018” report confirms that in the rod and line fishery, a total 37,196 wild salmon and grilse were retained and released last year, representing just 67 percent of the previous five-year average. At the same time, the reported catch and effort for the fixed engine and net and coble fisheries were among the lowest recorded by either fishery since records began in 1952, with 3,751 wild salmon and grilse caught and retained. The latter was from a reported effort of 25.5 crew months.

Commenting on the statistics, Scottish Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham said the decline in wild salmon numbers was of great concern and that she was determined to safeguard the future of the species.

“The problem is down to a range of complex factors, many of which are [out of] our control, including the unprecedented water shortages Scotland experienced last summer,” she said.

Such low flows are known to be difficult conditions for anglers catching fish, and salmon have been shown to delay entering rivers until flows increase, which can be toward the end of the fishing season.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Scottish minister urges seafood to grab trade opportunities, irrespective of Brexit

April 2, 2019 — While the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union will inevitably have an impact on Scottish seafood – with a lot of uncertainty surrounding trading relationships and the practicalities of exporting products – Fergus Ewing, cabinet secretary for the rural economy, is urging the sector to overcome these challenges and seize opportunities as they are presented.

Delivering the keynote address at the Scottish Seafood Summit in Aberdeen, Ewing stressed the importance of seafood to Scotland’s economy, and also the success of its exports, which have increased by 111 percent over the past 10 years.

Today, seafood accounts for 60 percent of Scotland’s food exports, compared to England’s 6 percent, he highlighted.

“We have a marvelous industry worth a huge amount of money – GBP 3 billion [USD 3.9 billion, EUR 3.5 billion] – it’s world-leading, as is the reputation we have for the quality of our produce and the cleanliness of our waters,” he said.  “This fuels success in the fish sector, but also spreads out to other parts of the food and drink sector; it enables other businesses to build on [the seafood industry’s] success worldwide. The seafood demand across the world is increasing – consumption has more than doubled in the past 50 years, and that can only increase [because] the amount of arable land is finite, and in almost every case is already being used. The potential to create more protein lies in the world’s seas and oceans.”

Ewing pointed out that almost 5,000 people work on Scottish-registered fishing vessels, while seafood processing provides over 8,000 jobs, and aquaculture, including the supply chain, supports more than 12,000 jobs, many of them in rural areas.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Scottish government: Fishing sector must unite to ensure brightest future

March 5, 2019 — A national discussion paper outlining the Scottish government’s vision for the future of fisheries after Brexit has been launched by Scotland Fisheries Secretary Fergus Ewing.

The paper’s key priorities include ensuring that access to Scottish waters and fishing opportunities are not traded away and that fishing quotas are in the hands of active Scottish fishermen. It also supports the principle of a discard ban, but wants stakeholders to put a more workable approach in place and also wants to encourage new entrance to the industry by creating additional licenses and quota.

Furthermore, it wants to press United Kingdom government to introduce a new work permit system to secure sustainable labor supply for the fishing industry.

Ewing launched the paper at a meeting with representatives from the local fishing community in Kirkwall, Orkney. This was the first of a series of meetings across Scotland to allow businesses and communities involved in fishing to have a say in the new strategy.

The minister said that the U.K.’s departure from the European Union will inevitably bringing changes in the way fisheries are managed and nature of the Scottish industry’s relationships with other seafaring nations.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Scottish minister calls for removal of link between seafood trade and access to waters

December 12, 2018 — Scotland Fisheries Secretary Fergus Ewing has written to the U.K. government raising serious concerns about the current Brexit Withdrawal Agreement’s failure to ensure tariff-free access to European markets for Scotland’s seafood exports.

Ewing warned Environment Secretary Michael Gove that non-tariff barriers like customs delays at ports could be catastrophic for an industry that relies on frictionless passage across borders, particularly for fresh and live products.

Ewing wrote that despite the Prime Minister Theresa May’s claims, a direct link between seafood trade and access to waters has been conceded, allowing for exclusion of fisheries and aquaculture from tariff-free access through a temporary customs union, if a fisheries agreement acceptable to the European Union cannot be achieved.

“Worse still, aquaculture has been included in this linkage despite having no connection to access to waters or quota,” Ewing wrote. “Salmon farming alone was the [United Kingdom’s] largest food export in 2017. Its inclusion is profoundly disturbing, risking the imposition of tariffs, which will inevitably increase the cost of exports, and perhaps even more importantly the spectre of non-tariff barriers hangs over Scottish seafood exports, which absolutely rely on frictionless passage across borders.”

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Nutrition researcher: The human diet needs more shellfish

October 29, 2018 — Numerous studies have shown that eating seafood is good for human health, but Professor Baukje de Roos, deputy director of the Rowett Institute at Scotland’s University of Aberdeen and an internationally recognized nutrition scientist, believes that shellfish are some of the most important contributors of essential nutrients and should be given a great place in the diet.

Professor de Roos, who is currently researching the effects of farmed seafood on heart health and micronutrient status, updated delegates at the recent Association of Scottish Shellfish Growers conference in Oban, Scotland, on the major health benefits of seafood and outlined the important involvement of shellfish.

Professor de Roos reminded her audience that omega-3 fatty acids help to protect against stroke and lower the risk of mortality from coronary heart disease, while vitamin D is essential for the growth and maintenance of healthy bones; and vitamin B12 is involved in the functioning of the nervous system, the formation of red blood cells, and in energy production.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

French and U.K. Fishing Boats Clash in ‘Scallop War’

August 30, 2018 — It’s been called the “scallop war” — a simmering rivalry that spilled out into the open again this week when French and British vessels clashed in the English Channel, French fishermen tossed what appeared to be smoke bombs at their rivals, and the British called on the Royal Navy for protection.

Video footage on French state television and on social media showed about 35 small French fishing boats menacing five larger British vessels early Tuesday morning in a stretch of international waters that separates Britain from the rest of Europe, just off the northwest coast of France.

At least one French boat slammed into the side of a Scottish vessel.

A French official said no one had been injured in the clash, but called the encounter “extremely dangerous.”

The French argue that British fishing vessels have an unfair advantage. The French government does not allow fishing for scallops to begin until October, in order to preserve the stock.

Read the full story at The New York Times

Adjudicator rules that controversial Shetland scallop fishery can be MSC certified

June 21, 2018 — An independent adjudicator appointed to oversee the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) re-certification of Shetland’s inshore brown crab and scallop fishery has ruled that NGO Open Seas failed to establish grounds for its objection in the first place.

Open Seas brought its objection in March, saying, “it is with some regret that we are challenging the proposed re-certification of the scallop dredge fishery in Shetland”.

“Unfortunately the possible re-certification of scallop dredging here, under its current management regime, risks green-washing an important certification standard that should represent a benchmark for sustainability,”

Adjudicator Eldon Greenberg stated the objection was dismissed in its entirety, after seeing Open Seas’ written submissions and hearing its oral evidence.

In essence, Open Seas’ objection boiled down to the fact that, in its view, the scallop fishery causes “serious or irreversible harm” to habitat structure. The NGO was unable to prove this statement though. Greenberg found that “what matters is not so much the damage wrought by the fishery in the areas fished, but the scale of damage compared to the range of habitat”.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News