Fishing industry leaders to give evidence to MP's on Brexit impact

Scottish seafood representatives are to give evidence to MP's this morning to discuss the impact of Brexit and the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement.

Protests last month from exporters drew headlines as they highlighted Brexit related delays they were experiencing since the turn of the year.

Increased customs bureaucracy since the end of the transition period has caused delays leaving fish rotting in lorries at the border, and some businesses close to the brink.

It led to Prime Minister Boris Johnson announcing a compensation package of £23 million for impacted businesses.

At the evidence session, MPs are expected to ask a panel including the Scottish Seafood Association’s Jimmy Buchan, Scottish Food and Drink’s James Withers and Clyde Fishermen’s Association’s Elaine Whyte about the implications to businesses of the EU-UK trade deal,the effect of the new customs arrangements on EU trade and the impacts on fleets of different sizes.

Elaine Whyte told us she welcomed the opportunity to lay out the effect of Brexit to members of Parliament.

She said:

"It's taken 40 years to build these communities up, and it won't take long to shut them down."

"Often overlooked is that not all of our fishermen export, some of them are domestic fisherman but they may land to companies that do exports and domestic processing, so it has a knock-on effect"

On compensation Whyte said more bases need to be covered, as some companies and fishermen are being left behind:

"We have to make sure we don't make the criteria so hard that they can't actually prove their loss"

"From our side, from the catching side, a lot of fishermen will have been told not to go to sea by processor that knew they didn't have a market - so how do they prove that formally?"

In 2019, fish exports to the EU worth £1.4bn made up 67% of all fish exports from the UK, while imports £1.2bn worth of fish were imported from the block. Trade between the UK and the EU has been mutually beneficial for the fishing industry and consumers alike, as fish caught in the waters of one may better suit the tastes of people in the other. 60-80% of fish eaten in the UK are imported, with cod and salmon comprising the bulk of fish imports.