Scottish Salmon Farmers Flounder In Brexit Red Tape

Scotland's salmon farmers have been slapped with huge costs due to bureaucracy and delays following Britain's departure from the European single market, an industry body said on Friday

London, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Feb, 2021 ) :Scotland's salmon farmers have been slapped with huge costs due to bureaucracy and delays following Britain's departure from the European single market, an industry body said on Friday.

The Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation (SSPO) said the end of the post-Brexit transition period on December 31 had cost its members at least 11 million ($15 million, 13 million Euros).

Sales amounting to 1,500 tonnes of product have been lost, while extra paperwork has pushed up overheads -- and also caused confusion.

In fraught negotiations late last year over an agreement to govern Britain and the EU's post-Brexit trade relationship, fishing became a totemic issue in talks that went down to the wire.

However, in the two months since the Christmas Eve agreement, fishermen and seafood exporters have warned post-Brexit rules pose an existential threat to the sector's future.

In January, to protest delays to shipments, exporters drove lorries to central London as tensions between government and the industry boiled over.

"This cannot be the 'new normal'. Our members cannot guarantee reliable delivery times to the European Union, which is our biggest overseas market," said SSPO chief executive Tavish Scott.

"We are calling on both the UK and Scottish governments to work together with us and with the supply chain to make sure there are no more blockages in the system which prevent our members from getting their fish to market on time." Scotland's salmon fishing industry, which supports 10,000 jobs across 3,600 companies, lost 200,000 in January alone to costs unrelated to production like export documents and administrative costs.

The salmon farmers were forced to delay catching 700 tonnes of fish in order to minimise the possibility it could go to waste.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday backed calls from MPs for a campaign to encourage Brits to eat more fish and combat disruptions to the fish industry, the BBC reported.

His official spokesman also told reporters his favourite fish was salmon.

The government has said it will make cash grants from a fund of 23 million available to fishing businesses to cushion the blow of export issues and the impact of coronavirus.