Seafood Expo Global: Flying the flag
The Scottish seafood sector was well represented at Seafood Expo Global this year. Both Seafood Scotland (in collaboration with export support body Scottish Development International) and Seafish, the UK-wide seafood industry body, hosted pavilions and both the Scottish and UK governments had a ministerial level presence.
Seafood Scotland hosted 14 leading producers, representing every step of the sea-to-plate journey, featuring a diverse array of fishers and processors, while also showcasing premium Scottish seafood at their live kitchen set-up. Chef Thomas Leatherbarrow and his team offered a range of tasty seafood, including dishes highlighting the quality of Scotland’s Label Rouge-certified high quality salmon.
The organisation also took the opportunity to highlight two important initiatives: a new quality scheme for the langoustine (nephrops) sector, the most valuable crustacean for Scottish seafood; and the Scottish Ocean Cluster.
The Ocean Cluster programme, which aims to reduce waste and boost profitability in Scotland’s seafood sector, has received pledges of support from nearly 60 cross sector-organisations.
The Ocean Cluster aims to drive up to three times more value from existing marine resources through innovative biotech applications, new product development and zero-waste practices.
The milestone was marked along with the launch of the Scottish Quality Langoustine (SQL) Scheme, a membership-based programme designed by the industry to enhance the consistency and overall quality of Scottish langoustine. Developed in collaboration with fishers and processors and backed by Scottish Producers’ Organisations (POs) with an interest in the langoustine fishery, the scheme sets a new standard for best practice in handling, processing and traceability.
Both announcements were made in the presence of the two ministers responsible for the sector in the Scottish and UK governments: Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands Mairi Gougeon, and Daniel Zeichner, Minister of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).
It is believed to be the first time that a DEFRA minister has attended Seafood Expo Global at Barcelona. Daniel Zeichner formally opened the Great Britain pavilion at the start of the Expo and was present at the Seafood Scotland event, at the Scotland pavilion, where he praised the seafood sector’s contribution to food security.
Mairi Gougeon also endorsed the sector, saying: “It’s because of the work that you do, that Scotland has its world-class reputation in seafood.”
Inspired by the success of the Iceland Ocean Cluster and its “100% Fish” initiative, the Scottish Ocean Cluster represents a groundbreaking collaborative effort between Seafood Scotland, Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC), Opportunity North East, Aberdeenshire Council and Zero Waste Scotland.
Donna Fordyce, Chief Executive of Seafood Scotland, said: “Seafood Expo Global is the perfect platform to not only showcase some of Scotland’s finest seafood businesses, but also to unveil transformational projects that showcase the ingenuity and ambition of our sector.
“The Scottish Ocean Cluster exemplifies industry collaboration, and the forward-thinking mindset needed to propel our sector into a more sustainable and prosperous future. It’s about working smarter with what we already have and ensuring Scotland remains a global leader in seafood innovation and excellence.”
Dealing with uncertainty
Fordyce told Fish Farmer that the mood at the Expo was positive, but the current uncertainty over US tariff policy had led to some concern.
She said: “Tariffs don’t just affect trade with the USA. For example, if the 10% tariff rate had not been set as a level playing field [ie other countries like Norway could have faced a higher tariff rate exporting to the US] we could have seen production displaced to the UK market.”
Marie-Anne Omnes, Seafood Scotland’s Head of Trade Marketing – Europe, added: “The biggest problem is uncertainty. If you know what the rules are, you can plan and adapt.”
The message from Seafood Expo North America in Boston earlier year was, Donna Fordyce stressed, that if retailers want your products they will find ways to get them in – and there is a demand for Scottish seafood.
Meanwhile, Seafood Scotland has been working to build closer international connections with countries like South Korea, Japan and Saudi Arabia. And, of course, the European Union remains the sector’s closest and biggest customer. The Expo took place ahead of the announcement later in May of an agreement to work to reduce barriers in UK-EU trade, but Donna Fordyce stressed that this was a key focus for her organisation.
She said: “We want a better relationship, and we’re getting that. We want frictionless trade and we want an SPS [sanitary and phyto-sanitary, governing trade in animal and plant products] agreement – but we don’t want to negotiate too much away.”
Marie-Anne Omnes said: “The Expo has been buzzing, we’re seeing a lot of people coming from almost every continent and we’ve had buyers and journalists enquiring about our products and our companies.”
Loch Duart unveils a new welfare standard
As reported in the May issue of this magazine, independent salmon producer Loch Duart took the opportunity to roll out not only its new own-brand Loch Duart smoked salmon – which was well received – but also its own welfare standard, which it said was more appropriate for a smaller farmer than previously existing programmes in the industry.
Loch Duart raised some eyebrows when it announced in August it was leaving the RSPCA Assured welfare scheme, which has become the default for the UK salmon industry.
Explaining the move in Barcelona, however, Sales Director Chris Orr stressed that the new scheme will, like the RSPCA programme, be independently audited, in this case by Partners in Welfare, and the standards had been drawn up in collaboration with experts at Leigh Grant Consulting.
Adam Gray said: “Barcelona is such a draw, we’ve had people from every part of the world coming to speak to us. Customers have been very pleased to hear about the new products and the new welfare standard that we’ve been implementing.
“This year feels a bit different – everyone is ready to come and do business, which is great news for producers like ourselves.”
Seafish, the UK-wide seafood body, doesn’t promote salmon but it does get involved with spreading the word about farmed shellfish as well as the full range of wild-caught seafood. In all, 15 companies from around the UK were exhibiting at the Great Britain pavilion.
The pavilion featured a live demonstration kitchen, with a team of UK chefs preparing, cooking and serving a variety of fish and shellfish dishes showcasing some of the UK’s best seafood.
The kitchen was led by acclaimed chef, CJ Jackson – previous Chief Executive of The Billingsgate Seafood Training School in London, and also a food writer and broadcaster.
Andy Gray, Group Engagement Manager, Seafish, told Fish Farmer: “Business has been brisk… the UK is here to showcase the wide variety of fish and shellfish that we produce as a nation. We’ve got great quality and we enjoy great trust from the rest of the world.”
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