‘Scottish seafood businesses only have weeks to survive due to EU export delays’

Edinburgh, Jan 15 : Scottish seafood companies only have “weeks” to survive without action to ease European Union (EU) export delays, an industry leader has warned.
An “overwhelming amount” of paperwork and bureaucracy since the start of the new year has left seafood exporters struggling to get to grips with new systems, Xinhua news agency quoted Donna Fordyce, chief executive of Seafood Scotland, as saying to Sky News on Thursday.
“We’ve dealt with COVID since March, the border delays at Christmas — the whole sector is on its knees and the resilience has gone,” she said.
Fordyce said there was no shortage of demand for Scottish seafood from across Europe, with the French market “desperate for our product”.
She called for “breathing space” and a grace period during which the new system can be improved.
“The companies haven’t got months and months to survive, we’re talking weeks,” she added.