Seafood processing firms relying more on European workers

Scottish seafood processing businesses are much more reliant on European workers than those in the rest of the UK, a new survey shows.

Marine Scotland surveyed 18 seafood processing firms, representing more than a third of the total workforce, and found 58% of staff were from European Economic Area (EEA) countries compared to 42% for the whole of the UK.

Polish, Lithuanian and Latvian nationals were the most likely to be employed, with the highest proportion of EEA staff (64%) working in mixed or white fish processing firms, the majority of which are found in the north-east.

A large majority (86%) of employees working in the industry were on permanent contracts, the survey found.

Analysis of the results by Marine Scotland concluded: “As cited by the capture sector, recruiting UK nationals has become more challenging over the years, which has increased the dependency on a non-UK workforce.

“This dependency has resulted in the surveyed seafood processing businesses voicing their concerns on finding suitable and reliable labour if, when the UK exits from the EU, there are changes to the free movement of people.

“This has resulted in some businesses citing the EU exit as a significant threat to their business’ operational viability.”

Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing said: “With the majority of EEA employees working on permanent contracts, and likely to be living here on a long-term basis, processors are rightly concerned for the future and the potential loss of skilled and experienced food processing employees.”