Nicki Holmyard

Prepare for post Brexit impact on trade in bivalve molluscs

WHETHER you love it or hate it, we got Brexit done. For better or for worse, we left Europe at the end of January 2020, after Prime Minister Boris Johnson agreed an initial deal with the EU, and finally got the UK government to ratify it. But for us as mussel farmers, who sell the majority of our product to the EU, the anxiety we have lived with over the past year continues unabated.

Brexit is likely to have severe negative impacts on our business, and on others in the wider shellfish industry.

The ‘will we or won’t we go out without a trade deal’ scenario has not gone away, because this is still a very real threat, if both sides cannot meet somewhere in the middle on issues such as access to fisheries, fiscal policies, immigration control and so on.

We are now in a transition period, still in the customs union, and still in the single market. Business can continue unabated, while the government argues for a good divorce settlement, before the split is made final on December 31, 2020.

For Northern Ireland, a four-year alignment period is in place to sort out a border agreement, before their new trading relationship starts in October 2024.

The trade negotiations are about to start in earnest, and both sides have published their mandates, but they are poles apart.

The PM tells us that he will happily leave the EU without any deal if he can’t get what he wants, and that he will worry about the details later. Industry is assured that any short term pain will be for the greater good.

In January, I attended a shellfish conference in the Netherlands, near the mussel capital of Yerseke, to talk about the impacts of Brexit on shellfish trade.

My short answer was ‘who knows?’, which raised a few eyebrows, but it remains a valid question.

What we do know is that by July 1 this year, the EU and UK have pledged to agree fishing quotas for 2021, and a lot is riding on that key agreement.

The fishing industry punches well above its weight in terms of political influence, and ‘taking back control of our waters and our fish’ was a major election pledge by the Conservatives.

Under the current situation, the UK applies EU rules on sanitary and phytosanitary controls, and shellfish traded from the UK to other member states within the EU are not classed as exports, but are considered as being placed on the market. There is minimal paperwork, and trade is generally hassle free.

The one exception is where live bivalve molluscs traded between the UK and a member state for farming or re-immersion, including depuration, must be accompanied by an animal health certificate, if that member state has restrictions in place to prevent the spread of listed diseases including Bonamia ostreae, Marteilia refringens, and OsHV-1μVar (oyster herpes virus), all of which affect oysters.

Worst case scenario

If a free trade deal is not negotiated and an extension is not requested or granted, the UK will start trading with the EU as a third country on World Trade Organisation (WTO) terms at the end of this year.

WTO rules would see the introduction of

“

The French are considered to be the biggest non-tariff barrier”

tariffs and VAT, and we would be subject to non-tariff barriers such as delays at Border Inspection Posts, customs inspections, endless paperwork, inability to employ foreign workers, and uncertainties over currency exchange.

Delays en-route may be fine for a frozen shipment, or a vivier truck with live crustaceans, but for a lorry carrying a cargo of live bivalve shellfish, with a very limited shelf life, it could be disastrous.

This scenario also worries insurers, who may be unwilling to cover shipments where there is uncertainty.

A further downside to delays is the potential need to have an extra driver to ensure a load reaches its destination in time. This all adds to the cost of shipment.

One of the main issues for many exporters to Europe is that France is the first port of call. The Channel Tunnel goes to France and the majority of ferries dock in France.

And French fishermen can be a reactionary bunch; they are already threatening to block their ports and the Channel Tunnel should they not succeed in getting access to the UK waters they have fished for decades.

French industry friends tell me that these are not idle threats. And a UK fisheries leader told me recently that they consider the French to be the biggest non-tariff barrier.

The paperwork burden of trading as a third country is both onerous and expensive, and it also has implications for importers.

All live bivalve molluscs exported to the EU from the UK would need to be accompanied by a valid Product of Animal Origin export health certificate if they are destined for direct entry to the market as a food product, and originate from either class A waters, or from class B waters but have been depurated.

If they are destined for further processing or depuration in the EU, an animal health certificate is required.

Consignments must be inspected before they leave the control of the competent authority in the UK and certificates are valid for departure within 72 hours of signing.

All third country exports to the EU have to enter through a Border Inspection Post (BIP), and the EU importer must notify the BIP of the arrival of the consignment using part 1 of a Common Veterinary Entry Document (CVED). This adds time and expense for the importer.

BIP officers check the consignment and its accompanying export/animal health certificate, before issuing the completed CVED that allows release into the EU.

It is likely that Border Inspections Posts capable of handling live bivalve molluscs will be few and far between, but at present it is not known which ones will be designated.

We have, however, been told that it will not be the main entry port of Calais, so this will add further travelling time to the journey.

For people who sell wild picked or dredged mussels that do not come from a Classified Shellfish Classification Production Area, Defra has not yet found an export route, and this potentially affects trade from mainland UK and Ireland.

Whatever happens during the negotiations, trade will undoubtedly continue with Europe, but questions remain over who will pick up the tab for all the additional costs.