Emmet Doyle, London Office, Bord Bia – Irish Food Board

This week the UK Environment Secretary Michael Gove, announced that Great Britain is withdrawing from the London Fisheries Convention (LFC), a policy which predates the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and allows fishing vessels from the UK, Ireland and fellow EU nations Belgium, France, Germany and Netherlands to fish within six and twelve miles of each other’s coastlines.

This is seen as the first step by the UK for exiting the CFP. The CFP is applicable to all EU states, granting access to waters from 12 - 200 nautical miles of member’s coastlines while setting quotas for how much fish each nation can catch.

Andy Lebrecht, the former Director General of DEFRA explains following the Brexit negotiations if the UK leaves the CFP and refuses to do a deal with the EU, this could have detrimental consequences for the UK seafood industry. The UK fishing fleet is heavily dependent on European seas especially the Irish, French and Norwegian waters and without access to these seas could lead to overfishing & depletion of stocks in UK waters. Notwithstanding the high level of resources needed by the UK, to police their own seas from foreign vessels.

For the time being it will be business as usual for EU fishing vessels with no effects implemented until both the two year LFC withdrawal process is met and the EU & UK negotiations conclude in March 2019. It is important to note that in 2015 only 10,000 tonnes of catch was landed by the five EU members under the LFC agreement in UK waters. A relatively small amount in comparison to what is landed in other EU members’ waters.

Bord Bia Activity

Since the referendum vote in June 2016, Bord Bia have undertaken a number of trade and consumer initiatives to further cement business relationships with UK partners while also looking to diversify Irish seafood exports. All under the marketing umbrella of Origin Green, Bord Bia is promoting and educating buyers to Ireland as a source of high quality and sustainable seafood.

Such activities include international trade presence at some of the leading trade shows globally, such as the North American Seafood show; Seafood Expo Global; and upcoming trade shows in Asia such as the Japan International Seafood show & the China Fisheries & Seafood Expo. This giving the opportunity for up to 50 Irish companies to exhibit across the 4 trade shows to tens of thousands of international buyers. While closer to home the first national shellfish promotion was launched in Ireland including advertisements on the radio; online; outdoor; and in store POS to encourage consumption.

Irish Seafood Industry in Numbers

• €890m – value of seafood industry in 2016
• €555m – value of seafood exports in 2016
• 50% - rise in seafood exports since 2010
• 11,000 – number of people employed in the industry
• 1,900 – registered Irish fishing vessels
• 72 – number of countries Irish seafood is exported to

International Trade Shows