Concerns over a seafood skills shortage have been taken to the heart of Westminster, with strong representations from Grimsby’s huge cluster.
Town MP Melanie Onn chaired a special session of the All Party Parliamentary Group, with sector experts invited from here, London and the South West to address political stakeholders, and help shape future strategy.
It came as Seafish, the industry organisation, brought back its World is Your Oyster campaign to help myth-bust and encourage entry to fish-focused careers.
Simon Dwyer, a key figure on the Seafood Grimsby and Humber board as secretariat of Grimsby Fish Merchants Association, joined Cornish fishmonger Rob Wing and highly respected principal and chief executive of the Billingsgate Seafood School, CJ Jackson in giving evidence.
Mr Dwyer said career opportunities were often overlooked by young people, telling how the cluster employs more than 5,800 people, and although the traditional jobs on the factory floor retain their importance, jobs in evolving sectors like international trade, sustainability and innovation are increasing.
Mr Wing added that a shrinking labour pool is leading to wage inflation, putting small businesses at risk, even though career paths within small-scale establishments can be greatly rewarding.
Ms Jackson highlighted the integral role of education and training. She believes seafood needs to be a bigger part of people’s lives from an early age, and that exposing children to a wide range of seafood could lead them to consider a career in the sector later on.
Valuing the different input from across the sector, Ms Onn said: “They were all concerned about the future of the industry if it didn’t reach out and open itself up to new people and make itself known to be a good career path. Locally we may have a narrow view because of the number of factory floor roles, but there is so much more.
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“It is important to let people see the whole wealth of careers available. Part of this must be the industry making itself a better option for people as well, not being seen as dead end but as high quality employers.”
With Young’s Seafood, Seachill, New England Seafood, Flatfish and the like all in her constituency, opportunity remains high with the latter having brought forward plans for a new training centre as part of a major expansion. Buying, marketing, packaging, logistics, product development and roles in human resources, accounting, account management and technical support are all plentiful in the sector, as well as processing.
“There is strong brand recognition, yet the jobs that lots of people locally could have are not necessarily those they see themselves doing,” Ms Onn added, having been a champion of work done between Seafish and Grimsby Institute to open the sector up to students.
“It is about perception, she said. “We need to open it up to look at how much people can get out of it, whether that is interest in doing the work, financial reward or opportunity and willingness to work up and gain experience.
“Lots of people are keen to take people on who can demonstrate they have a passion for the business. Some jobs may not have the kudos of going out on a trawler, but are still a vital part of a bigger industry, and people don’t always see that.”
Asked what could be done, she said: “It is about raising the profile, making a bit more noise for industry. It perhaps hasn’t been as good as the farming sector, they are immense at pushing themselves and having their voices heard within Defra. Because the seafood sector is smaller and more niche, it struggles.
“It is about getting some very clear objectives, investing and working together, rather than a lot of factions. Seafish was at the meeting, they are doing some of the work, with a Seafood 2040 strategy which brings everything under one umbrella.
“It is also about getting the consumer to realise what buying from a supermarket or a fishmonger has a link back and encourage them to buy a bit more into that.”