7 minute read
Hamish Macdonell
BY HAMISH MACDONELL
Never-ending Brexit
The UK’s European divorce continues to have repercussions for the salmon industry
It always used to be said that Sco� sh devolu� on was “a process not an event”.
Well, it seems that the same can now be said for Brexit.
Anyone who adhered to the clean-break theory for our departure from the EU is being proved wrong, week by week and month by month.
Indeed, every � me we think we have got to grips with the changes brought about by the UK’s exit from the EU, something else rises up from the bureaucra� c morass to test us yet again.
This is not to say that Brexit won’t prove to be a success for Sco� sh salmon in the long run: if the trade deals the UK signs with countries all over the world prove to be advantageous, that could work in our favour.
But the short-term reality is not only that Brexit is cos� ng our sector substan� al amounts in extra paperwork costs, delays and poorer prices but also that the situa� on keeps changing.
There have been two recent examples which show how the ongoing
“process” of Brexit is con� nuing to cause us problems.
The fi rst stems from changes brought in on 1 July this year. Up un� l the end of June, European workers had the right to work in the UK without permits.
As from 1 July, permits are now needed – and this doesn’t just apply to workers from the EU, it also covers those from countries like
Norway which are outside the EU but inside the European Free Trade
Area.
The result has been a major headache for our sector and a problem which could poten� ally bring the whole Sco� sh salmon sector to its knees.
The reason is the Norwegian wellboat fl eet. Our farms are serviced by a number of specialist wellboats. Some of these treat the fi sh, some harvest while others are used to transport salmon and smolts.
Without them, the Sco� sh salmon sector would grind to a halt, pre� y quickly.
From 1 July, the Norwegian crews on these Norwegian-fl agged vessels have needed permits to work in Sco� sh waters.
So, for the last couple of months, the boats’ operators have been working with the Sco� sh Salmon Producers Organisa� on to try to fi nd a way to get permits.
Quite a few crew members qualify for the new Fron� er Permit. This applies to those who have worked in the UK in 2020. As many of the crew members worked in Sco� sh waters last year, they qualify for the new permits.
But these new permits don’t cover all the Norwegian crew members needed to operate the boats. The companies opera� ng the boats won’t be able to bring in new crews from Norway to cover for sickness and holidays, and they won’t be able to cover for crew members who move on to other jobs or who re� re.
This means there is a fi nite group of crew members; a group which will always be ge� ng smaller. This will allow wellboats to con� nue to operate in the short term but a longer term solu� on is desperately needed to prevent the Sco� sh salmon sector from hi� ng a crisis, somewhere down the line.
Brexit enthusiasts would say that these are jobs which should be done by UK workers and, in an ideal world, that might be true. However, the reality is that it is very diffi cult, if not impossible, for UK workers to take these jobs because of the understandable language barriers in their way.
To take on these jobs, UK workers would need to be able to speak Norwegian and, crucially, understand all the instruc� ons wri� en in Norwegian on the vessels.
The SSPO is working with the UK Government to try to fi nd a solu� on, making the case that this is yet another unintended consequence of Brexit and that something needs to be done to prevent considerable damage being done to a great UK export success story.
But even while we try to manage this issue (and, at the moment, there is no solu� on in sight), another one is looming round the corner. On August 21 this year, the rules on Export Health Cer� fi cates for the export of fi sh to the EU will change.
I’d like to be able to explain exactly what
Above: Wellboat moored alongside a salmon farm these will be but there is s� ll considerable uncertainty over the changes and what they will mean.
It appears that the cer� fi cates may need to be signed off by a cer� fi ed vet, rather than an environmental health offi cer, but even that is unclear at the moment.
What is certain is that eight months a� er EHCs were introduced for fi sh exports to the EU and a� er eight months of ge� ng used to the complicated new system, further changes are in the pipeline.
Not only that, but with other plans in prepara� on to digi� se the en� re system – changes we have called for – to help simplify the process, this won’t be the end of the story.
So if there is one thing our members are having to get used to with Brexit it is this: constant change. Just when they thought it was safe to relax a li� le and think they had sorted the Brexit changes, along comes something new.
It is a tribute to our members that they have managed to get so much salmon to the EU this year. Exports of Sco� sh salmon in the fi rst quarter of this year were up on the previous year. Well, they were up in volume terms but down in value.
What this suggests is that they have valiantly fought through the new bureaucracy to get their fi sh to the con� nent but uncertainty over delivery � mes and delays caused by paperwork problems have eroded the prices they would have expected to get.
I would like to think that this � me next year, we will be able to look back on 2021 and say it was just 12 months of “teething problems” and that Brexit has se� led down.
I would like to think our members will be expor� ng even more to the EU and that both volume and value of our exports will be up.
But, given the almost constant ra� of changes to the rules and regula� ons which are being thrown in the direc� on of our members, no one can be sure of that.
In fact, the only thing we can be sure of is that this uncertainty will con� nue. And, if this “process” of Brexit con� nues much longer, those sunlit uplands of free trade around the world will con� nue to look as distant as ever. FF
