We’ll have to shift focus from the UK, says Atlantis boss

BRITAIN’S decision to leave the EU may force Atlantis to rethink their plans to break into the UK market.

Speaking in light of the Brexit announcement on Friday, company director John Kenny said that exporting their produce to the UK was the ‘next big thing on the agenda’. Despite making business negotiations in recent months, he said that the company may now have to reconsider their options.

‘We may have to give it a rethink,’ he said. ‘We have already done some negotiations but now the Brexit could affect our margin. The value of Sterling is going to plummet – it already has. There is a lot of uncertainty for the next two years.’

According to John, the decision has encouraged them to focus their efforts on other export markets such as Germany and France.

‘ To break any export market takes time,’ he said. ‘We are going to take our energy away from the UK until things settle down.’

Despite causing a U-turn in their future plans, John does not believe that the Brexit decision will have a huge impact on the fishing industry as a whole.

‘I don’t think it will affect it too much,’ he said. ‘From our own point of view, most of what we catch we sell on the home market.’

The majority of the farmed salmon used by Atlantis in their products comes from the UK. According to John, the Brexit will benefit them in this regard as anything that they import will be ‘ better value’. John isn’t the only one in the fishing industry to have an opinion on Britain’s recent decision. Earlier this month, CEO of the Irish Fish Producers Organisation Francis O’Donnell said there was ‘much sympathy’ around the coastline for the Leave camp. Speaking to the Irish Times, Mr O’Donnell said these sentiments arose as a result of the ‘severe’ impact that the Common Fisheries Policy quotas have had on the coastal communities in Ireland and the UK.

(Amy Lewis)