March 30, 2022 — Rising inflation is having an impact on grocery sales in the United Kingdom, which dropped 6.3 percent in the first quarter of 2022, according to new data. Fresh seafood sales are also falling due to higher prices.
Grocery inflation reached 4.2 percent for the 12-week period ending 20 March, its highest level since April 2012, Kantar said in a press release.
Read the full story at SeafoodSource
March 15, 2022 — The United Kingdom has announced a ban on exports of high-end luxury goods to Russia, while also hitting hundreds of key Russian products with new import tariffs that represent a 35 percentage point hike on current rates.
Russian whitefish is one of the products affected by the tariff increases, as is vodka, while the export ban will likely affect luxury vehicles, high-end fashion, and works of art.
Read the full story at SeafoodSource
February 15, 2022 — Exports of farm-raised Scottish salmon, the United Kingdom’s most valuable food export, recovered to near-record figures in 2021.
According to official HMRC figures, overseas sales of salmon in 2021 increased by 36 percent year-over-year to GBP 614 million (USD 832.7 million, EUR 732.4 million), just GBP 4 million (USD 5.4 million, EUR 4.8 million) short of 2019’s all-time high.
November 5, 2021 — Talks between the British and French governments to settle a post-Brexit fishing row have ended in stalemate as No 10 said it did not believe Paris would follow through on threats to slow down trade.
The Brexit minister, David Frost, spent about 90 minutes meeting France’s Europe minister, Clément Beaune, in Paris on Thursday, but despite smiles for the cameras the two sides remained far apart.
Boris Johnson’s spokesperson said: “We don’t believe the French are planning to move forward with the previous threats they’ve made.” Beaune, however, said France wanted to give dialogue a chance, but “the option for retaliatory measures remains open”.
France and Britain are at odds over the rights of French fishers in the six to 12-mile zone around the UK shore, and Jersey and Guernsey. The dispute threatened to tip into a full-blown trade war until the French president, Emmanuel Macron, called for more talks on Monday, holding back on a threat to slow down British imports coming into France.
Read the full story at The Guardian
August 20, 2021 — In order to promote shark conservation, a ban has been initiated on the import and export of detached shark fins, the UK Government announced. This ban will include shark fin products like tinned shark fin soup.
Shark species are facing population decline, and shark finning is a huge force behind this. Out of over 500 species of shark, 143 are listed as ‘under threat’ under the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A key indicator and sign of ocean health is the presence and amount of sharks in marine areas. Sharks also play a major role in marine ecosystems because they help maintain healthy and normal levels of fish lower to them in the food chain.
August 6, 2021 — At an in-person meeting in Fraserburgh, Scotland, on 5 August, Scottish fisheries leaders urged United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson to help them build back the industry after the Brexit deal.
Scottish Seafood Association Chief Executive Jimmy Buchan told Johnson Brexit and COVID-19 have combined to create a “perilous situation” for companies, with production and export capacity severely reduced, especially due to a related labor shortage.
July 26, 2021 — Building climate resilience will be essential to the United Kingdom’s seafood indsutry if it hopes to maintain production and account for impendeing changes, speakers from around the world told the U.K. government’s All Party Parliamentary Group on Fisheries at its most recent meeting.
The panel, which is operated by the U.K.’s Fisheries Secretariat, is a cross-party body focused on issues affecting the U.K. fishing and seafood sector. The aim of its recent session was to gain insight into how to tackle issues resulting from climate change that could impact the country’s fishing industry in the future.
June 18, 2021 — Just days after policymakers announced a five-year suspension of tariffs between the United States and European Union – winding down a decades-long trade conflict – officials announced a similar deal is being struck between the U.S. and United Kingdom.
The agreement is in regards to an ongoing civil aircraft dispute involving U.S.-based Boeing and E.U.-based Airbus. According to a release from the U.S. Trade Representative, the framework for a deal between the U.S. and U.K. is similar to that reached earlier this week with the E.U.
June 14, 2021 — Scotland Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon is urging the U.K. government to continue to help the nation’s seafood sector to work through the challenges posed by Brexit by extending the life of the Scottish Seafood Exports Taskforce.
Speaking ahead of the final meeting of the taskforce on 14 June, Gougeon said she wants U.K. leaders to ensure a forum continues to exist at least until the end of 2021, with an extension allowing issues related to exports to be worked through, and also to prepare for further changes to trade arrangements.
June 3, 2021 — Britain and the European Union on Wednesday agreed the first ever annual deal on the management of shared fish stocks after Brexit.
In anticipation of a potential backlash from British fishermen, Whitehall sources on Wednesday night cautioned that agreement would not “please everyone”.
Brussels said the new fishing agreement proved that the UK and EU could work together after months of tensions since the UK left the Brexit transition period on December 31.
The European Commission said the new deal created a “strong basis for continued EU-UK cooperation in the area of fisheries” after months of negotiations, which began in January.
The agreement sets out the total allowed catch (TAC) for more than 75 shared stocks in UK and EU waters for the rest of the year.
The TAC, which aims to prevent overfishing, is then divided between the two sides on the basis of quotas agreed in the Brexit deal on fishing on Christmas Eve. Both sides had agreed to use the 2020 TAC until a deal could be found.