Impacts of current EU regulation on the UK whitefish value chain

• Published in: Marine Policy
• Main Authors: Mardle, Simon, Metz, Sebastien
• Other Authors: Sakana Consultants, European Project: 635188,H2020,H2020-BG-2014-2,SUCCESS(2015)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2017
• Subjects: Value chain analysis; Competitiveness; Sustainability; Bioeconomic modelling; Whitefish value chain analysis; Whitefish; [SHS]Humanities and Social Sciences; [SHS.ECO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Economics and Finance; Norway; Iceland
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-04294401; https://hal.science/hal-04294401/document; https://hal.science/hal-04294401/file/JMPO_2017_5_Revision%201_V0.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2017.07.001

International audience Cod and haddock are two of the "big 5" UK supermarket fish species and intrinsic to fish and chip shops nationwide. UK whitefish fleets produce a significant amount, however there is a reliance on imports to maintain supply. The UK is in a strong position to compete for raw material from Iceland and Norway given high prices paid for imports and investment by Icelandic and Norwegian companies in the UK. Regarding UK production of whitefish, the European Common Fisheries Policy landing obligation has introduced significant uncertainty. To avoid discarding of any quota stock, fishing may be stopped before all target stocks quota is reached. For demersal fleets, there is a transition period between 2016-18 where target stocks are introduced according to Advisory Council and EU agreement and Article 15, with all quota stocks from 2019. As the capacity of the fleets balance to the new regulations, supply will likely return and if maximum sustainable yield (MSY) is reached in 2020 then an increase in TACs from current levels is likely too. However, markets and industries can change in a short period. Particularly, most processing companies are small to medium size enterprises and those that concentrate on cod and haddock may have to adjust their business. Fleets could be resilient to such short term reductions in landings however this cannot be assumed. The competitiveness of producers will surely be affected in the short to medium term as a result.