I was sent this from the Fishing Minister:
Love Seafood Campaign
The Trade and Cooperation Agreement has set a new relationship with the EU on fisheries. This marks an important step in the right direction. Over the course of the last year weâve taken our independent seat at the Regional Fisheries Management Organisations, and reached a partnership agreement with Norway, our most important partner on fishing interests and with whom we have responsibility for shared stocks in the North Sea.
As we move forward, we are determined to do all that we can to support our coastal communities. As a nation, we should be eating more of the fish that we catch.
In the coming weeks, Defra and Seafish (the public body that supports the UK seafood industry) will be working together to deliver a UK-wide âLove Seafoodâ campaign, featuring UK fish and shellfish.
The campaign will focus on increasing domestic consumption of UK seafood. It will promote species including: langoustines, crab, lobster, scallops, oysters, clams, mussels, squid, cuttlefish, turbot, plaice, sole and monkfish.
The campaign will run throughout March, and will feature in national and regional press titles. We see this as a first step, and part of our wider ambition to ensure greater domestic consumption of UK-caught seafood.
March 4, 2021
I went to a so-called seafood restaurant in Yorkshire.
It took very fine seafood – scallops, prawns etc.
Then it battered them all and deep fried them.
In beef dripping.
The taste of the dripping was still repeating three hours later.
It will take more than a few weeks to change public eating habits here.
March 4, 2021
You went to the wrong restaurant.
I’m not surprised.
March 5, 2021
Not how I would have chosen to cook them for sure, but there is nothing wrong with good beef dripping in its place. It is not all that different from cream or butter sauces a more classical way to serve them.
March 5, 2021
Cook it yourself..
March 5, 2021
Had excellent cod in batter in Keswick two years ago, shop in the middle of the high street – worth a visit.
well cooked in fresh oil…yummy….
March 5, 2021
with a pint of the local Golden Ale? – Wonderful -Old Keswickian in Market Place. Not fine dining but you must do it.
March 5, 2021
I could have gone to the Magpie in Whitby, and been one of the 5% who wanted something other than battered haddock, chips, mushy peas, bread and butter, and a pot of tea, yes.
March 5, 2021
You show your ignorance of visits people think they should make, the list to do before they die….
Bettys Teashops – Harrogate, York etc, Fish& Chips in Whitby, Afternoon tea in various pleasant surroundings, Lords first day Test match, Henley Regatta, Wimbledon, Chelsea Flower Show.
I suppose you wouldn’t miss the Labour Party Conference?
March 4, 2021
The Italian government has blocked the export of an Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine shipment to Australia.
The decision affects 250,000 doses of the vaccine produced at an AstraZeneca facility in Italy.
Italy is the first EU country to use the bloc’s new regulations allowing exports to be stopped if the company providing the vaccines has failed to meet its obligations to the EU.
The move has been backed by the European Commission, reports say.
March 4, 2021
A “campaign”? I bet the EU is quaking in its boots. An advertising “campaign” is the politically correct term for propaganda – something we have come to expect from governments in place of anything practical. This government won’t do anything actually useful; it won’t get out of the way; instead it thinks more waffle is the answer.
March 4, 2021
I sincerely hope this idea will fly.
March 4, 2021
What about the fish we eat from the local chippie? Cod, hake, pollock, whiting, and plaice?
March 4, 2021
I wonder if “Eat Fish To Support Brexit” will actually be a good brand .Some market positioning is doing itys best to distance itself from Brexit and all that implies about your lifestyle. Most will be completely indifferent and buy the best product
March 4, 2021
BUILD BACK FISHERIES BETTER
March 5, 2021
Supporting fish and local produce is a Must..
March 4, 2021
It is one thing to have a campaign and laudable, but there is no infrastructure to get fish and shell fish overnight from the quayside to every town in the country. Neither are there professionally manned outlets to get it to the customer. Buying it online is an absolute nono at the prices they charge. Prices at what few outlets exist are not going to persuade the public to buy. I can buy overnight fish and shellfish from spanish supermarket counters that do not smell of fish, a sign of freshness, at half the prices quoted in the UK, and they are often caught by UK fishermen. Spaniards at all social levels buy fish and shellfish at sensible prices, the Brits do not and cannot.
The fish counters at Mercadona and Carrefour are 40 feet long at Finestrat and it is all fresh fish and shellfish. They are manned by at least 4 operatives who know what they are doing. Tescos fish counter has been closed for months and was no longer than a sideboard when open. A miserable and expensive experience.
One of the delights as a 16 year old was unloading the New Street Station fish train at 03.00 am. It paid for my mountaineering trips. Good luck with the Love Seafood Campaign, but I am not holding my breath. I will let you know of its impact on my home town.
March 5, 2021
A stroll through the dockside fish market in Trouville-sur-Mer has fishermen selling their catch on one side people eating it on the other. Those were the days.
At the moment, the Fishermen of most importance in the UK are Scottish. That is until the Scottish elections are over. It’s for the good of the Union you understand.
March 4, 2021
Certainly needed, particularly now the Eu are playing us for fools.
I hope the next 5 years will give the UK government time to put in proper control on access to our waters.
March 4, 2021
My taxes being spent promoting an industry devastated by Tory Brexit. Perhaps you just shouldnât have left.
March 5, 2021
Andy, 48 years of EU theft and you’re whingeing about everything not sorted in a few months?
March 5, 2021
+1
March 5, 2021
+1
March 4, 2021
Anybody else on here would like ÂŁ340k for being upset at boss shouting at you for not doing your job?
Probably hurt his feelings, timid little flower.
March 4, 2021
+1
March 5, 2021
+1
March 4, 2021
4 years late
March 4, 2021
4 years late + 5.5 years EU deal = 9.5 years till over fisheries are back fully in UK control
March 4, 2021
I suppose the government wish to be seen to be doing something on fish even if it is just an advertising campaign.
However, everybody knows that our fishermen were sold out on the Brexit agreement and this changes nothing.
March 5, 2021
Absolutely correct Peter. Who would believe that our sovereign government would allow EU fishing boats to continue plundering our fishing grounds between 12 and 6 mikes of the coast.
I would rather see the same promotion budget being spent on selling our shellfish and fish catch in Japan where a large market already exists. Liz Truss is about the only politician who could understand such a concept and have the drive to carry it out.
March 4, 2021
I hope the Fishing Minister realises that it is no good leaving the sale of our fish to supermarkets.
They have no idea when fish is fresh or âoffâ and no idea how to fillet etc.
That takes skill.
March 4, 2021
This government supporting the fisheries industry – thats the funniest thing I’ve heard all year
March 5, 2021
straight out of ‘The Truth Ministry’ ?
March 4, 2021
The need is getting the Supermarkets engaged. Other than Morrisons the other mian Supermarkets are dedicated to import all there needs.
Never forget that as the UK government sold the fishermen out, the EU can take all they need from UK territorial waters without any resistance, that’s why they can block UK exports – they are not needed
March 4, 2021
We do hear an awful lot about the fishing industry it has to be said. Could we ask your view on financial services, and whether the EUâs refusal to grant equivalence as they have eg for Brazil, should be regarded as a threat or an perhaps even an opportunity? After all, financial services does account for about 100x the tax and GDP contribution of fishing.
March 4, 2021
The UK Government backs UK fish-but what else can Government say? Methinks too late now to close the stable door- then four years of negotiations and it was all for naught
March 5, 2021
Is that the same ‘Love Seafood’ campaign that was launched last October 2020 by Seafish but clearly had no impact? Or is that a red herring? It won’t exactly be much use to all those having to rely on supermarket online ordering during lockdowns though. Even Waitrose can’t deliver such expensive delights as langoustines, scallops, halibut and monkfish during the pandemic. There’s always a catch to these initiatives. A very costly catch.
March 5, 2021
This is actually a fairly big deal. EU membership led to fish processing being spread over different member states. Fish caught by British boats is often processed in Europe before returning to the UK for retail sale. The long-term outcome is to make a member state incapable of handling all the steps of handling a product by itself, thus locking it into the EU even where domestic consumption of its own domestic production is concerned.
Increasing UK domestic consumption of UK-caught fish, post-Brexit, will tend to lead to investment in fish processing facilities inside the UK, leading to less EU involvement. We’ll hear howls about a reduction in seafood trade, but in fact it will really be that trade being completed end to end inside the UK, instead of criss-crossing EU boundaries. and if EU obstructionism persists, fish won’t be the only such product
March 5, 2021
In other words doing very little. Meaningless.
March 5, 2021
About bl***y time!
March 5, 2021
I was disappointed that there was nothing in the budget to help fishing in this country. We need to encourage more youngsters into the industry. I good start would be an apprentice scheme for school leavers. At the moment these arenât allowed for Shared Fishermen. The Government must look afresh at whatâs stopping British workers from entering the industry and why foreign workers are still being recruited.
March 5, 2021
I was disappointed to see my supermarket still stocking king prawns from India and Thailand, where they are raised in inhumane conditions. I love langoustines but they cost twice as much here in the UK as they do in Spain. Why is this? Is it that they buy in bulk as they eat more of them? I read that Morrisonâs, one of the few supermarkets with a fish counter, has now bought its own trawler so cutting out the middle man. Until fish becomes as cheap as meat, I doubt most consumers will switch their eating habits.
March 5, 2021
Another simple question that JR is incapable of answering.
March 5, 2021
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/05/eu-accused-of-neocolonial-plundering-of-tuna-in-indian-ocean
“EU accused of âneocolonialâ plundering of tuna in Indian Ocean”
March 5, 2021
Rather than a âLove Seafoodâ campaign which is just as likely to promote the importation of foreign supplied fish I would rather see the government give grants or loans for the construction of the necessary fish processing and shellfish depuration plants to provide employment opportunities in the UK and ensure that our fisheries are not dependent upon unreliable EU plants.
It would at the same time reduce the amount of CO2 produced shipping seafood back and forth across the channel and result in the consumer receiving a fresher product.
If our existing supermarkets are not willing to take our seafood then the government should facilitate a deal with a large internet sales company to deliver direct to the consumer.
March 5, 2021
We learned from the Briefings for Britain site the other day that fisheries were played off against energy supplies in the negotiations. No access to UK fishing waters, no EU electricity. That was the deal.
This is the place that free-marketeers have got us to, held to ransom because we are dependent on foreign powers for our electricity supply.
March 5, 2021
Our family would love to eat more seafood.
Unfortunately, we are a Nation that squeezes maximum profits, out of consumers, with ridiculously high prices.
If seafood can be offered to the UK people, at an affordable price, huge demand will be there.
March 5, 2021
While a laudable intention, what is the Government doing to build or expand shellfish processing plants in the UK so that any increase in UK demand can be met and that which is not can be exported to the EU?
We could, of course, also increase tariffs on imports of EU fish and shellfish caught in our territorial waters, but I suspect that that would result in a disproportionate response from the Commission.
Maybe we should chuck the Withdrawal Agreement and the NI Protocol and go it alone on WTO rules, as recently threatened by the Commission for extending the ‘temporary’ trade rules on products sent from the UK to NI.