The changes in crewing costs highlighted by a recent Seafish assessment published on 10th September impacts 75% of all of the boats landing scampi tails to Whitby Seafoods.

In the September report Seafish illustrate that the Nephrops (scampi) fleet could experience “annual operating losses of between £41.5k and £83.5k per vessel, on average unless these losses are offset by increased prices”.

Whitby Seafoods has chosen to support the boats impacted by substantially increasing the pricing paid for tails. Whitby has communicated that those boats that also support the In Transition to MSC programme (ITM) will get the highest tail prices.

This means the ITM – achieving MSC for scampi – has a financial incentive for boats. The In-Transition to MSC (ITM) fishing improvement programme is a new chapter in the sustainable management of the Nephrops fishery. All boats supplying Whitby with scampi tails will get an increase, however those boats signing up to the ITM obtain the highest level of tail price increase from the company.

In the September report Seafish goes on to state that the changes could lead to “vessel tie-ups and business closures, with a knock-on impact on scampi supply in the UK”.
This is why Whitby have acted proactively to ensure this is not the case.

The Seafish assessment of the impact of the change on Nephrops prices indicates that to meet the revised salaries on-board boats necessitated by the government the prices paid by “processors/wholesalers to vessel operators would need to increase by 33%”.

Seafish goes on to state that the price that processors would charge retailers would need to increase by 14.5% and that the price that processors would charge food service sector buyers would need to increase by 15.6%.

Whitby have asked retail and foodservice customers for price increases to cover the tail price increases. Whitby have chosen to recover only a portion of the additional costs in order to keep the scampi category competitive in a tough market place.

Whitby Seafoods Managing Director Daniel Whittle said:
“Whitby Seafoods has taken significant steps to improve the viability of UK scampi and our recent initiatives demonstrate the positive direction we are heading in. We’re proud to play a leading role in helping the sector adopt and implement measures which will ensure that the UK Fishing fleet is safe and sustainable for generations to come.

As an independent family-owned company we’re deeply committed to the sustainability of our waters, and we’re working hard to make sure that responsible fishing practices help scampi remain a firm favourite on the tables of UK families for generations to come. No one welcomes price inflation, but this should lead to an important step change in the scampi fishery”.

A link to the Seafish report mentioned is below:-

Skilled Worker Visa changes – impact on the seafood sector | Seafish