Seafood supply issues ‘steadily improving’, minister says

Robert Nicolson of QA Fish with the new paperwork that has to be filled out to export fish to southern Ireland and Europe. Photo:Dave Donaldson

Issues in the seafood supply chain in the aftermath of Brexit are “steadily improving”, UK government minister for Scotland David Duguid has said.

Mr Duguid said he had been told this after a meeting with senior figures in the industry.

Seafood companies were left in disarray following a post-Brexit bureaucratic nightmare which has prevented them from exporting their produce to the EU.

Robert Nicolson of QA Seafood told The Shetland Times that his company were losing tens of thousands of pounds as a result of the new paperwork.

But Mr Duguid insisted that the “temporary issues” were close to being resolved.

“The UK Government has been striving night and day to help the industry and I am encouraged that solutions now in place are beginning to bear fruit,” he said.

“The government has acknowledged there have been difficulties”.

A £23 million fund was announced to support companies affected by the delays.