Scotland Delivers
Ever since I travelled the 580 miles to Aberdeenshire, on a cold and slate grey morning, last March, to meet with the charismatic Peterhead skipper and Scottish fishery ambassador Jimmy Buchan, I’ve harboured thoughts of returning. The reason for this is twofold: Firstly to visit new friends and catch up on the Northern North Sea fishing scene and secondly and selfishly more important, to indulge myself yet again in tasting some the finest and undoubtedly most sustainable seafood our abundant and responsibly-fished UK waters have to offer.
It’s always worth reminding ourselves that commercial fishing on a scale that provides continuity of supply of both white and oily fish and shellfish to the catering trade, is no easy game. As programmes such as the recently screened “The Catch” and the massively popular original “Trawlermen” series attest, it is an industry not only fraught with fiscally binding and frustratingly restrictive legislation, but real and tangible life-threatening danger, where behind each trip lurks the spectre of loss and devastation; both physically and financially.
As it turned out, I didn’t have to make the long journey North in order to be reacquainted with the Scottish seafood scene and leapt at the chance to meet up with those at the Northern North Sea coal face, as a group of them visited London recently, in an ambassadorial role, promoting their responsibly and sustainably caught, white fish sector.
In a meeting then, led by Seafood Scotland (the trade body charged with promoting the finest seafood North of the border), last month at Billingsgate market, I heard first hand from Scottish skippers and merchants, just what sort of pressure they’re under, to deliver quality and at the same time affordability, even though the progress they have many in recent years to improve and nurture our wild fish stocks have paid such dividends, that many species such as cod, haddock and hake now swim in such vastly increased biomass, that they have defied the industry critics.
On a mission to develop new and expand existing supply links with London’s fish and chip trade, it was timely that the visit happened to coincide with the Marine Conservation Society rewarding the industry with the removal of North Sea cod from its threatened or “Red list” that advises consumers to avoid eating certain species deemed to be commercially sensitive. Indeed with an increased biomass of 28% last year, thanks to reduced fishing effort since the implementation of the Cod Recovery Plan, the viable stocks of that particular species are such, that the UK demand for cod (some 300,000 tonnes in 2014) could be met more from Scottish effort, but only, it should be stressed, with an increase in quota above the 8000 tonnes currently afforded to our Northern fleet.
This statistic, in turn, highlights the issue of imports and with such a dramatic shortfall in supply, being met largely from Norwegian and Icelandic vessels, the scope for sourcing finest quality Scottish cod (and haddock with a 40% biomass increase last year) is considerable and skippers from the Buchan ports of Peterhead and Fraserburgh are itching to meet that demand.
Will Clark, Peterhead merchant and chair of Peterhead & Fraserburgh Fish Processors (PFFPA) is quick to point out that quality is never an issue:
“We don’t need to worry about fish from Norway and Iceland when our product will literally sell itself. The Scottish fish are of supreme quality and we are able to supply consistently. Consistency is what the market demands and if the price differential fluctuates, that in turn kills the supply. We need to rebuild our own markets now, which in the short term may mean lower prices, but ultimately the continuity we can provide will determine our future. ”
I can vouch too for the consistency, having studied the daily Peterhead Market summaries for nearly a year now and from that it’s clear that the Scottish boats are capable of landing fish virtually to order and of the specific class sizes that different sectors require. Markets of 5000 + boxes of whitefish are not an uncommon sight at this particular port and it’s no surprise to David Milne, Chairman of the Scottish White Fish Producers Association (SWFPA) and skipper of the Fraserburgh registered pair-trawler Adorne (FR220) who’s keen to elaborate on the amount of catch effort currently required.
“When you consider that we used to tow (trawl) for 7-8 hours at a time 10 years ago, we can now only tow the same gear for a maximum of 2-3 hours to catch the same amount of fish. There are literally fish everywhere; not just cod, but haddock, whiting and hake too. This can present its own problems with when trying to land too big a haul, as the fish can suffer damage. We have to be careful when managing the hauling operation with these numbers of fish, as the sheer volume can also impact on gear function and wear. ”
David continues.
“It’s of course massively good news for our