Scots seafood industry warns of mass migration and losses

Government policies will lead to the death of the UK fish processing sector and the loss of all 9,000 jobs to overseas factories, the Scottish Seafood Processors Federation (SSPF) has warned.

The stark prediction followed decisions by Young's Seafood and Dawnfresh Seafoods to move some scampi processing to the Far East, with the loss of 120 and 70 UK jobs respectively.

"We will lose all 9,000 jobs in Scottish seafood processing if the government continues with the same blinkered mindset," said the SSPF director Andrew Charles. He defended Young's decision to manufacture abroad: "You can't blame Young's - you can blame the government for creating an environment that is becoming an unpleasant place to do business. If Young's didn't do this, they might lose out to someone who is [processing abroad]."

He blamed things such as high taxation, the minimum wage and business rates and claimed that the government had done little to help the sector since it published its sustainable fisheries programme in October 2005.

He predicted that more manufacturers would follow Young's and Dawnfresh because it was the only way they could survive. "This is a trend which reflects the government's attitude to manufacturing - they don't give a stuff about it. We live in a country of double standards and manufacturers are not valued. The government talks a good game, but the truth of the matter is it has turned its back on UK seafood processing and now it's paying for it."

Sam Evans, md of shellfish manufacturer Kildavanan Seafoods in Lancashire, said that it was "a good idea" to move processing overseas, provided that the firms could meet cost and quality objectives.

"Unfortunately, that's the way life is," he said. "We've looked into moving processing abroad ourselves - every food processor has, you'd be stupid not to. It's not because we're hard-nosed, it's just how production works."

Young's director of scampi Mike Mitchell said the company's transfer of work overseas had been a "difficult decision" to make, but that it was no longer economic to de-shell langoustine in the UK.

Both the Young's and the Dawnfresh scampi will be caught in Scotland, shipped to Asia for partial processing, and returned to Scotland for further preparation, a strategy that Friends of the Earth called "environmental madness"