British fishing businesses could go bust or end up moving to Europe due to post-Brexit trading disruption, industry figures have now warned
MPs have been told that paperwork, due to new border controls, had proved to be a “massive problem” for fishing businesses and should be moved to an online format.
They also heard of the extra costs that have made it “impossible” for some fishing firms to trade profitably with the rest of the world.
Ministers have promised to take action on the disruption, and have put forward £23m for the affected businesses.
This comes after fishing businesses that have been hit by post-Brexit export problems have demonstrated outside various government departments in Westminster. Fishing exports of fresh fish and seafood from Britain have been severely disrupted by the new post-Brexit border controls since the UK’s transitionary period ended.
The UK government has also put a taskforce in charge of aiming to resolve the problems faced by the fishing industry in Scotland.
The Commons environment committee has heard that funding may have to continue, and be widened even further, to help the sector weather these Brexit-related problems.
Outside of the EU’s single market, British fish exports into Europe are now subject to a new set of customs and veterinary checks which have caused problems when crossing the border.
Martyn Youell, who is a manager at the south-west England fishing company Waterdance, told MPs that the industry was facing a lot more than just “teething problems”.
“Whilst some things have settled down, some obvious issues, we feel that we remain with at least 80% of the trading difficulties that have been encountered,” he said.
“There are some extreme forces operating on the supply chain, and we probably will see some forced consolidation or business failure.”
“The exporters we deal with are seriously considering relocating part of their processing business to the EU because of the difficulties we face”
He said that the “largely paper-based” forms that they now have to fill in had pushed up company costs, and have called for the UK to work with the European Union in moving the forms to an online format.
This comes after border officials have confiscated sandwiches and other foodstuffs from drivers arriving in the Netherlands from the UK after Brexit. A Dutch TV clip showed a driver had his ham sandwiches confiscated by border officials as he arrived – with one border guard joking: “Welcome to the Brexit, sir.”
The chief executive of Seafood Scotland, Donna Fordyce, said that the problems could lead to smaller firms in particular stopping trading with the EU in the medium term.
She said that the annual costs of these new paperwork forms, was between £250,000 and £500,000 per year, which were far too expensive for them to sustain.
But she said that many “can’t see where they could turn” at the moment, due to travel bans and the COVID019 pandemic have closed off other possible markets.
She added that there was “a lot of anger” about the design of the UK government’s £23m fishing industry compensation scheme, which links funds to provable losses as a result to Brexit.
