UK processors Icelandic Seachill, Direct Seafoods and New England Seafood expressed disappointment over the EU’s red card decision – especially as some of those importers are engaged in fisheries improvement there.

The ban will mainly impact imports of fresh and chilled yellowfin tuna or swordfish from Sri Lanka, largely for the foodservice sector, with total imports to the EU valued at €74 million.

In the UK, views on the decision, announced last week, range from it being the wrong one, to a ban being the ‘line in the sand’ which had to be drawn eventually.

The biggest disappointment came from Icelandic Seachill.

“It’s a government to government issue, and the EU has not engaged properly with industry stakeholders to ascertain if this is the correct measure to bring about compliance,” Nigel Edwards, technical director at the company, told Undercurrent News.

“The red card is not needed, the yellow card had done the job to stimulate the political will and action.”

He said Sri Lanka had shown big improvements in its fisheries.

“We are part of a very active Fishery Improvement Project [FIP] that has been helping the Sri Lankan government to comply and to address the wider issues of the tuna fisheries management in the Indian Ocean. We have seen a huge commitment from the Sri Lankan ministry of fisheries and from the local industry that are working with us.”

This FIP involves retailers Tesco, Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury’s, and UK importers New England Seafood and Le Lien.

Le Lien chairman Peter Stagg did not return a request for comment by the time of publication. The firm is one of the UK’s biggest seafood importers from Sri Lanka, and has invested in the past to form a processing joint venture there.

Sri Lanka has been working very hard to address the outstanding issues, and Seachill is still confident they will succeed, he added.

“As a member of the Sustainable Seafood Coalition we are committed to seeking improvements in fisheries, not walking away. In effect the EU is walking away, and telling Sri Lanka to sell their fish to markets that are not engaged in driving sustainability standards.”

Direct Seafoods and New England Seafood were also disappointed, but supported the EU’s move.

“It’s a tough decision, but the EU has been working on the Sri Lanka government for two or three years now,” Laky Zervudachi, director of sustainability and epicurean with UK importer Direct Seafoods, told Undercurrent.

“Not a lot of progress has been made in terms of cleaning up their act. It was necessary to make it felt that IUU [illegal, unreported and unregulated] activity is not tolerated, to draw a line in the sand,” he said, though added it was a shame it had to come to this.

“We support EU measures to drive out IUU in the world’s oceans,” said Dave Jones, category manager for tuna at processor New England Seafood.

“But at the same time we are naturally very disappointed to see Sri Lanka get a red card, having had a long term relationship with our suppliers there for many years.”

Market effects

The market effects of this ban may be slight for the UK, but more serious for Sri Lanka.

According to figures from UK industry body Seafish, the UK imported 1,942t of seafood from Sri Lanka last year, for a value of £12.6m.

This tallies with estimates from Undercurrent sources, who attested to the small volumes involved.

“We imports maybe 3t a week. We’re a small player compared to the supermarkets, but it’s an important line to foodservice, fresh tuna is expected on a daily basis,” said Zervudachi.

Inevitably now Direct Seafoods, as well as Seachill, will look to source from elsewhere, and both pointed to the Maldives.

“We buy more from the Maldives than Sri Lanka, and expect that source to get more expensive, and fishing pressure to increase, as they license more longliners,” said Seachill’s Nigel Edwards. “However, fishery management in the Maldives is generally considered to be better and that gives them a market advantage.”

“We will be sourcing from elsewhere – we have good links with the Maldives fisheries, which has always been another source of supply, so there wouldn’t be new structures needed,” added Zervudachi, who also revealed Direct Seafoods is looking into introducing fresh Maldives MSC skipjack to its customers. “Over time pressure on the Maldives’ tuna will increase, and customers will have to understand that increasing prices are the result of sustainability.”

New England’s Dave Jones noted Sri Lanka is an important supply chain, and that even though the ban will put significant pressure on countries such as the Maldives, “we do believe the current volume demands from the UK will be met”.

“What is not clear at the moment is what the commercial implications of this decision will be.”

FIP to continue        

While unable to comment on the EU’s decision, Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) told Undercurrent the Sri Lanka FIP had made good progress.

The first on-board observer had recently returned from a fishing expedition – something of a landmark for the FIP – and Blake Lee-Harwood of SFP suggested many of the things the FIP is doing are going some way to meeting the EU’s demands.

For instance, the introduction of logbooks for vessels and on-board observers are just two of the measure which have been brought in since the project was undertaken in 2008.

“Sri Lanka is an important source of tuna for the UK and Europe, and with this in mind New England Seafood began to discuss with our Sri Lankan suppliers the importance of sustainability, and the need in the long term to aim at a third party certification such as MSC,” explained Dave Jones.

“We recognised that a journey of improvements would be needed in order to achieve this important goal and NES, together with other UK importers, retailers and NGO’s, formed strong partnerships with Sri Lankan exporters to form a fishery improvement partnership in 2008.”

He was confident Sri Lanka will continue to respond positively to EU requirements, and do all it can to go back to a green light on trade. “We at NES will certainly support them and their government in any way we can to help them achieve this,” he said.

“We are not walking away from the fishery improvement work in Sri Lanka,” confirmed Edwards. “This is the way we will help them to return to our market of responsible buyers.”

“There are a million people dependent on the fishing industry in Sri Lanka. This is a crucial part of their economy, and we have been a crucial part of helping the Sri Lankan government to control this resource more effectively.”

under current news