Seafish sets out five-year plan for UK industry

UK industry body Seafish has launched its new five-year corporate plan for the sector. It includes making overseas trade easier, ensuring a safer and better trained workforce and responding to climate change emergency.

Seafish, which is publicly owned, says it is a strategic roadmap that reflects the organisation’s vision for a thriving seafood sector and its ambition to drive the industry forward and foster sustainability, resilience, and prosperity.

The 2023-2028 Corporate Plan was developed following a Strategic Review of Seafish that involved extensive consultation and collaboration with government and stakeholders from the seafood industry.

Marcus Coleman, CEO, said: “Our new corporate Plan demonstrates our ongoing commitment to support the UK seafood industry.

“Consultation with industry and government stakeholders has been instrumental in shaping our new priorities. By working together, we can ensure that our initiatives are directly informed by the aspirations of the seafood industry.”

Seafish says the strategy aims to provide the support industry needs to address current challenges, such as labour shortages, the climate emergency and post-Brexit trade issues as well as reputational challenges the sector faces.

These events have a direct impact on all seafood businesses and will influence industry’s performance over the next five years and beyond, it argues.

The main priorities are:

1. Ensuring a safe and skilled workforce. Seafish wants the UK seafood sector recognised as a dynamic, safe, and attractive sector to work.
2. Facilitating and promoting international trade. Seafish says it wants to support businesses to achieve frictionless seafood trade with suppliers and markets across the world.
3. Responding to the climate change emergency. Over the next five years, Seafish will work to firmly place the seafood sector on a clear path to achieve its emissions targets. Seafish also want to ensure businesses understand how they will need to adapt to the impacts of a changing climate on their daily operations.
4. Improving fisheries management. Seafish’s ambition is that over the next 10 years all commercial fisheries will be managed via Fisheries Management Plans (FMPs).
5. Enabling supply chain resilience. Seafish aims to equip businesses to respond and adapt when issues emerge, highlighting where change is necessary and creating pre-competitive spaces for businesses to forge solutions and realise opportunities.
6. Improving data, insight, and innovation. Seafish’s ambition is to become the centre for analysis and insight on the operation and performance of the seafood supply chain.
7. Championing Industry Reputation. By actively scanning the landscape for reputational risks to proactively plan responses, Seafish aims to support the industry to tell a positive story about seafood.

Marcus Coleman