The effects of the war in Ukraine extend to the Scottish fishing industrywhich faces the loss of lucrative exports. Millions of pounds of mackerel and herring cannot be exported due to the conflict, and there are also new tariffs on Russian whitefish. Every year herring and mackerel weighing about 12,000 tonnes are shipped from Scotland to Ukraine and Belarus.
The war means it cannot come, putting a market valued at some £20m at risk. Peterhead in Aberdeenshire is Europe’s largest whitefish port. At the Lunar Fish and Freezing Company, trucks should bring mackerel to Ukraine, but they cannot get through. For this reason, pallets of fish are being stacked inside a cold room at -20 °C.
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Pallets of mackerel due for the £20m Ukrainian export market on hold, lorries stopped on route or being returned due to the war.
In this cold store the food is ready to go, but there’s no way to get it there.
(It’s -20 in there, hence the workwear) pic.twitter.com/uQPtnfO2KN
— Davy Shanks (@Davyshanks) March 18, 2022
Lunar General Manager Sinclair Banks stated that it was an uncertain time: “Right now, there are challenges to face, in terms of what we do with the product that is reserved for Ukraine“. These statements were made to the BBC affiliate in Scotland.
