Brexit plea to Boris! Fishermen call for UK waters regrade to overcome EU shellfish ban

Brexit: Victoria Prentis slams EU over shellfish ban

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Since the UK left the EU Single Market on January 1, fishermen have been unable to sell thousands of live unpurified shellfish caught in the UK’s Class B waters to the continent. The EU told Britain it is indefinitely banned from selling shellfish to its member states.

Now, industry leaders are calling for the UK to reclassify its waters so some areas of the British coastline will be moved from Class B to Class A.

This would allow unpurified shellfish to be sold once again on the continent.

Sarah Horsfall, from the Shellfish Association of Great Britain, said: “Countries in the EU classify their waters very differently from the UK and those differences disadvantage the UK industry.

“We’ve been trying to get the classifications in the UK changed for 30 years.

“Nothing has been done but with the export ban, it is much more urgent now.

“Other countries classify the water in different ways, which allows them to have more Class A waters than us, but their waters are no different.

“It’s a question of the system being different.

“It’s nothing to do with the safety of the shellfish.”

She went on to say how it is possible to have more Class A waters than “we currently have”.

Most of the UK’s waters are Class B as they have slightly more contaminants than Class A waters.

Since the UK’s Brexit transition period ended on December 31, British firms have been restricted on what they can sell to Europe.

Only pre-purified, ready-to-eat shellfish is allowed to pass through ports en route to the 27-member bloc.

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Like all food products, the shellfish must be accompanied by an export health certificate.

Rob Benson, director of Kingfisher Seafoods Ltd, warned regrading the waters would not be enough to solve the ongoing issue and lashed out at the Government for failing to help.

He told i: “Everything that can be done to help the industry is better than nothing, but it isn’t going to fix the problem on its own.

“For every individual customer, it now costs around £350 on paperwork.

“The Government isn’t doing enough to help us.

“They’ve made decisions without consultation and their knowledge of the industry has been very poor.

“We’re in the third month of this now and we still can’t trade.

“They haven’t come up with anything constructive.”

According to the Government, the grading system is designed to protect public health and the Food Standards Agency is working to assess if the situation could be improved.

A Government spokesperson said: “There is no scientific or technical justification for the European Commission banning the import of live bivalve molluscs from Class B waters.

“We’re continuing to seek urgent resolution on this matter and we are willing to provide additional reassurances to demonstrate shellfish health within reason, but this must recognise the existing high standards and history of trade between us.”

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