Fishing sector faces storm like no other

Potential losses to the £316 million Scottish fishing industry have been described as “terrifying” by industry representatives.

Until Monday’s announcement of tighter business and travel restrictions, trade at Scotland’s fish markets had reportedly been holding up, with individual traders travelling from larger cities to buy supplies.

Footfall slumped on Tuesday, along with prices.

According to one wholesaler in the north-east, boats may be discouraged from going out to sea.

He said: “The boats have been well organised.

“For now, supermarkets are still getting the supplies and because the landings have been low, they’ve been able to keep the prices up.

“The prices have dropped and if they drop too far then the boats may stop fishing.”

In 2018, Scottish-registered fishing vessels landed 446,000 tonnes of seafish and shellfish with a value of £574 million and employed around 4,860 people.

Mike Park, CEO of the Scottish White Fish Producers Association, said: “The bigger issue we have right now is prawns.

“There was a degree of oversupply to the market last year which has meant some of the cold stores are pretty much full as we came into this crisis. Some processors are taking small amounts but we think by the end of this week this will have dried up as well, which then only leaves the whitefish fleets.

“They will want to continue to go to sea but no one will want to keep going if the price gets below sustainable proportions.

“If we landed it to market now for poor prices and we use up our quota, then it means in the latter part of the year when the prices will rise again, we have no quota left.

“So it doesn’t make business sense to land it below a price that makes it unprofitable for the fleet.”

Yesterday, the Scottish Government announced the fishing and seafood industry will receive £5 million in support targeted towards 650 companies, including onshore processing firms.

Elspeth Macdonald, chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation said:“The loss, almost overnight, of export markets and of the food service and hospitality trade in the UK has had a serious impact on our shellfish fleet, much of which is now tied up.

“We want to continue to supply consumers with safe, sustainable and nutritious Scottish fish and shellfish, and are working across the supply chain and with governments to keep this proud industry at sea and fishing.”