Editor’s Welcome

For anyone who loves unexpected challenges, 2020 was the gift that kept on giving.

For the UK seafood industry, it was a year dominated by the terrible impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and by the prospect of a “no deal” Brexit.

The end of 2020 saw both issues coming together as concern over the new strain of Covid-19 led the French Government to close the Channel crossings just before Christmas. The horrendous scenes of stranded drivers and cargoes in Kent suggest that, had the Brexit talks ended without a deal, the plans in place would not have held up well.

Instead, the industry has given two cheers for the Christmas agreement it means tariff-free trade for most products, but the delays currently being seen arising from new, unfamiliar paperwork and associated IT failures have been a massive headache for those trying to get perishable produce to the Continent.

Let’s hope that these problems can be ironed out and, on the pandemic front, that the long-awaited roll-out of vaccines offers the hope that at some point, 2021 may come to resemble the world we knew before Covid-19.

Meanwhile, we have a packed issue for you this month, with topics ranging from the latest developments in fish nutrition and the use of satellites to detect algal blooms, to initiatives to find 5G telecommunications applications that benefit the rural economy and an international charity that is helping communities in some of the poorest parts of the world to build a thriving (and sustainable) aquaculture industry.

I wish all our readers the best for the year ahead.

Best wishes, Robert Outram

Robert Outram