A briefing has been released that summarises the output from the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Fisheries open Parliamentary hybrid event, 12 July 2022. The meeting brought together a variety of stakeholders to discuss how to better connect the seafood sector with food policy and the UK food supply chain. The document is a synthesis of the discussions that took place at the event and below is an extract from the summary report.

Overview

• With seafood widely recognised to be an important part of a healthy diet, it is essential that the UK ensures a secure and resilient supply, now and into the future.
• On average, people in the UK eat less seafood than the government recommends for a healthy diet.
• Most of the seafood consumed in the UK is imported from abroad while most seafood produced in the UK is exported.
• Main barriers to seafood consumption are thought to be cost and lack of education or confidence in cooking seafood.
• The UK’s domestic seafood market has changed in recent years, for instance through the rise of domestic marketing and supply initiatives in the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Under increasing scrutiny, ensuring that global and UK seafood supply chains are free of labour and human rights abuses has become a priority for businesses.

Conclusions

Increasing consumption of seafood in general would contribute to public health, although further benefits could be realised by increasing the consumption of UK seafood specifically: greater consumption of UK seafood would support the UK fishing industry, as well as fostering diversity in the supply chain, making it easier to source seafood that has been produced sustainably and is free of labour abuses.

Government policies, for example in sourcing, offer one way to increase UK seafood consumption. Large retailers are another significant influencer of consumer habits, but consumer demand also drives retailer choices, which points to the importance of educational initiatives aimed at adults and children. The success of direct-to-consumer seafood initiatives during the Covid- 19 pandemic also shows there is appetite for high- quality, “story rich” UK seafood.

The complexity of food supply chains means that imports are likely to continue to provide a significant proportion of total UK seafood consumption for the foreseeable future. However, there is ample opportunity to potentially bolster UK seafood security by increasing the share of seafood consumed that comes from the UK itself.

This is an extract from the summary report and the full document can be found here.