The Shellfish Association of Great Britain’s 43rd Annual Conference

Fishmongers’ Hall, London. 22nd – 23rd May 2012.

Speaker Summaries

Dr Paul Williams, Seafish

Paul Williams talked about the role of Seafish and the raft of ways in which it works with government agencies and other bodies, including the SAGB, which he said is a key partner on many projects, such as the Shellfish Industry Development Strategy (SIDS). He acknowledged fisheries minister Richard Benyon’s earlier presentation which insisted that the shellfish and aquaculture industries would need to grow, and said Seafish is looking at how best that could be achieved bearing in mind “the mass of regulations” that are currently in place controlling access to the marine resource. Part of this work includes joint work with the SAGB that looks at the potential/feasibility of introducing shellfish growing sites near to wind farm areas.

Looking ahead, Williams outlined the £2.5m ACRUNET (Atlantic Crab Users Resource Network) project and also confirmed there would be follow up to SIDS. He concluded by saying that Seafish has a real commitment to UK shellfish. “Seafish’s goal is a sustainable, profitable future for the seafood industry. Part of that is for the shellfish sector,” he said.

Norah Parke, Killybegs Fishermen’s Organisation

Norah Parke elaborated on ACRUNET, explaining the project was the result of the crab industry taking matters into its own hands to do something about the fisheries management (or rather lack of). ACRUNET has 15 partners – BIM, KFO, Seafish, SAGB, Bord Bia, IFREMER, CEFAS, France Agrimer, Marine Institute, NFFO, IPIMAR, Seafood Scotland, CETMAR and CNPMEM – which came together because in the past there had been a complete lack of trust in the crab sector. This resulted in a poorer quality product, which in turn led to low prices. A downward cycle was created because fishermen would increase their effort to compensate.

Parke said there were numerous challenges facing ACRUNET but that it would strive to improve the co-operation, communication and innovation in the industry and would implement policy at national, regional and EU level. It would do this by establishing a comprehensive communications platform, she said.

Stephen Cameron, Scottish Shellfish Marketing Group

Stephen Cameron delivered a comprehensive breakdown of the UK mussel market and stressed that mussels remain ever popular with consumers but that there was some shift in the preferred formats, which needed to be recognized in future product development.

Around 4,000 tonnes of mussels, worth more than £21m were sold in the UK last year. Overall, in terms of the market’s favourite seafood products, they are ranked 11th in value and 8th in volume.

Pre-packed value-added mussels have grown significantly in importance in the past few years, Cameron said. Retail sales now account for 42% of all mussel purchases, wholesale is 32% and foodservice is 26%. He said that mussels in sauces (white wine, garlic butter and Provençal) make up the greatest volume of consumer retail purchases at 61%, way ahead of fresh mussels at 16%. Looking ahead, modified atmosphere packs (MAP) of fresh live mussels, which are popular in Europe, are starting to gain ground in the UK, he said.

Dr Stephen Bolt, Association of IFCAs

Stephen Bolt explained the new Association of IFCAs and why it is so important that a balance is struck between the social, economic and environmental needs of England’s coastal marine resource.

David Muirhead MBE, SAGB

Through “A Fishy Tale”, David Muirhead delivered a colourful insight into his life as a Cornish fisherman – man and boy, starting with handlining as a 3 year old!

Martyn Youell, Marine Management Organisation (MMO)

Martyn Youell, whose presentation was titled “The Marine Planning System”, gave conference delegates an update into the progress of England’s marine plans, and insisted that marine planning is not a new regulation. He explained that the first two areas for marine plans – East inshore and offshore – were selected in October 2010 and that the MMO will submit plans to government this autumn. There will be a public consultation in 2013, he said.

Monty Halls, TV Presenter

Monty Halls’ presentation “Between a rock and a hard plaice” gave a fascinating insight into the making of ‘The Fishermans Apprentice' BBC television series. Halls, a former Royal Marines officer, revealed he found life as a fisherman incredibly exhausting - the early hours, the strength required to just do the day-to-day job, the inherent dangers of being a fisherman and the “baffling fog of legislation”. But he also talked at length about the “amazing camaraderie” that came with being part of the Cadgwith fleet.

Halls talked about the potential of Community Supported Fisheries (CSF) in the UK. Halls had seen the CSFs work in the United States, whereby interested members of the local community pay a fee upfront and get fresh fish once a week from their local boats for a set period (eg three months), which they will pick up from a central distribution point. The initiative, which takes place in 24 towns and cities in the States, has fostered a direct link between the boats and the local community. A CSF was trialled in Cadgwith and it went down very well, said Halls. “It strikes me that these small schemes could work,” he said.

Dr Linden Jack, Food Standards Agency

Linden Jack, head of the FSA’s food hygiene policy team, explained that work on norovirus is co-ordinated under the agency’s Foodborne Disease Strategy and that it expects to establish three work streams around norovirus: Food handlers, Fresh produce and Shellfish. She said that more robust and scientific knowledge is required into norovirus and the list of priorities includes:

Literature review on distinguishing infectious and non-infectious norovirus

EU project (VITAL) on identifying routes of contamination and potential controls for all foods

Study on contribution of the whole food chain, including food handlers on UK acquired norovirus infections (three-year project due to start during 2012)

Transmission routes of norovirus infection (complete 12/13)

Research call issued for literature review on survival and persistence of norovirus in foods and on food contact surfaces (complete early 13/14)

Jack said a research workshop would take place towards the end of this year. With regards to norovirus in shellfish, she pointed out that the FSA had published research on prevalence of norovirus in UK shellfish harvesting areas but said the industry needs to understand more about the levels of norovirus in shellfish when they reach the consumer, infectious dose and quantifying the effectiveness of depuration. She also said the FSA was working with the European Commission and other member states to establish an equivalency agreement for trade in live bivalve molluscs (LBM) between the EU and US. This is a long-term project and will take a number of years, she said.

Nicki Holmyard, Seafood Scotland

Closing the first day of the conference, Nicki Holmyard talked about Seafood Scotland’s Seafood in Schools project, which aims to educate the next generation of consumers. Holmyard explained that it was vital that we, as an industry, extol the virtues of fish and shellfish because consumption is dropping while health issues are increasing. We need to

make children familiar with seafood, she said, adding that a number of forward-thinking enterprises were now working in this area, such as Billingsgate Seafood School’s outreach project, Marine Stewardship Council’s Fish ‘n Kids, Marks and Spencer’s School of Fish as well as Seafood Scotland’s own project.

Part of the Seafood in Schools project involves using seafood as a context for teaching, whereby children learn where seafood comes from, how it gets to their plates and why it’s good (healthy) to eat. So far the project has interacted with 25,000 Scottish school children, thanks in part to more than £24,000 of donations from the seafood industry. The good news is that the project has just been given a three-year extension to reach 50,000 per year.

Robin Smith, North Norfolk Fisheries Liaison Group (FLAG)

Robin Smith was the first speaker of day two and he talked about the public sector’s part in “making things happen” to boost ailing economic areas such as north Norfolk. Smith remarked that local authorities are amongst the most powerful economic agents in their areas, shaping economic health as employers and purchasers and through local leadership and economic development activities.

“Experience demonstrates that without action at local level, coastal areas will continue to lag behind other parts of the country,” he said. “But local authorities can make a difference strategically through combining and sharing local resources in a targeted way with other strategic partners.”

Smith said north Norfolk’s maritime area is becoming one of the most important investor development areas in the east of England, which is raising the aspirations among the region’s young people and subsequently improving job opportunities. But he also said that 2,500 wind turbines will be erected over the next few years that will have a dramatic effect on the region’s fisheries, therefore he felt the North Norfolk FLAG was set to become a very powerful lobbying institution.

Ian Groves, North Norfolk Business Forum Following on from Robin Smith’s presentation, Ian Groves gave an outline of the North Norfolk FLAG programme, operating from Thornham to Caister-on-Sea between 2011 and 2014, and which – thanks to £2.4 million European Fisheries Fund money - has nearly 30 separate projects. The FLAG’s vision is: “We aim to provide a voice for the North Norfolk fishery which will influence policy at a regional and national level while demonstrating the strong reputation of the fishery and highlighting its impressive heritage.” Specifically, the FLAG will support existing fishery businesses, boost new entrants, provide new infrastructure, ensure the environment not adversely affected and encourage and support new business opportunities, said Groves.

Toby Roxburgh, WWF

Toby Roxburgh talked about the PISCES (Partnerships Involving Stakeholders in the Celtic Sea Ecosytem) project, which has been running for two years and was founded by WWF UK and partners in France, Ireland and Spain. Together, they created (and are working with) a Celtic Sea stakeholder group to develop a practical guide on implementation of the ecosystem approach to focus on the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). The guide, which Roxburgh said is the “voice of the stakeholders” is set for launch at the start of October this year and will be followed by promotional events in the UK, France, Spain and Belgium (Brussels). He explained the guide should capture views on: how stakeholders can participate in MSFD; the benefits to government and stakeholders; and what is needed to make this happen (eg new governance mechanisms, funding, incentives etc). The guide is being reviewed through to 6 July and Roxburgh urged interested conference delegates to get involved.

Colin Warwick, The Crown Estate

Colin Warwick, a former fisherman, talked about harvesting the sea “in harmony”. Warwick said that in the grand scheme of things, the fishing industry is not important to the UK’s GDP but stressed that it’s vital to coastal communities. He warned that the fishing industry now faces “the new kid on the block” in renewable energy (windfarms) and said that the logical thing for the fishing industry to do is to create dialogue with these companies. “There are, after all, a lot of jobs in the renewable sector,” he said.

Warwick said that of all fisheries industries, the shellfish sector was perhaps best placed to take advantage of the windfarms. “If you have the dialogue and the will to co-operate, there’s no reason why you can’t co-exist,” he said.

Toby Middleton, Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)

Toby Middleton explained Project Inshore and introduced Matt Watson, who will be taking the initiative forward.

Project Inshore is essentially a tool to assess and feed into the management of all English fisheries within IFCA districts, said Middleton. It consists of three stages: Fishery Analysis, MSC Pre-Assessments, and Sustainability Reviews. It uses the MSC pre-assessment process as an independent assessment of what is happening on the ground in inshore fisheries. The pre-assessments then feed into develop Sustainability Reviews to feed into current management practices.

Middleton said the aim is to overcome market barriers to small scale fisheries engaging in the MSC process. All inshore fisheries would be considered against a consistent framework of common criteria. Sustainability reports would be developed to enable multi-track progress and harmonised approaches. They would also recognise where management is working and also areas which could be improved upon.

Looking ahead, Project Inshore will be setting up a multi-stakeholder advisory group. It will also be outlining the timelines and process to IFCAs as well as scheduling local stakeholder workshops.

Matthew Ayers, Crabstock

Matthew Ayers, head chef at the Lamb Inn, Great Rissington, ended the conference with his talk about Crabstock - the first inland shellfish festival. Crabstock was dreamed up by Ayers and Adrian Bartlett of The Really Interesting Crab Company to inform consumers about the benefits of eating shellfish and to get local communities involved with the UK fishing industry through a live music and food festival.

Held over two days in April in the grounds of The Lamb Inn, Crabstock was visited by 2,000 people. It promoted brown crab, spider crab, fiddler crab, lobsters, cockles, clams and mussels, oysters and scallops.

“The general public isn’t aware of shellfish, there’s a real lack of knowledge,” Ayers told conference delegates. “And also in my professional experience, I have found that a lot of chefs are numb to shellfish; they don’t know what to do with it. Yet Crabstock has shown us that people really do care about local produce.”

Ayers and Bartlett are now looking into ways of rolling out the Crabstock concept to the rest of the country. They are also planning a “Cotswold Shellfish Week,” involving all the chefs in the area and getting their restaurants to promote U.K. shellfish, probably with the help of a new “Great British Shellfish” logo.

ENDS [JH/June 2012]