Scottish fishermen land Sainsbury's prawn deal

19-Sep-2011 - Last updated on 21-Sep-2011 at 16:32 GMT

Sainsbury's has offered a 500-store deal to west coast fishermen

Fishermen working off the west coast of Scotland have won a 500-store deal to supply Sainsbury’s with prawns.

The prawns, to be branded as Scottish langoustine, will be sold through about 500 of Sainsbury's 800 UK outlets.

John Hermse, chief executive of Mallaig and Northwest Fishermen's Association (MNFA), told FoodManufacture.co.uk: “This is great news for west coast fishermen and consumers.

“Too often, west coast langoustines is confused with scampi. It’s a top quality product, clearly better than east coast supplies, and, for too long, it has been under-rated.”

The deal follows a three-year research project, funded by the Scottish Assembly, conducted by supply chain analyst SA Partners to investigate how to better market west coast shellfish.

Direct marketing

At first, the fishermen were wary of dealing with some large supermarket chains but the research confirmed that direct marketing to retail giants was the way forward, said Hermse.

“A good proportion of the catch is exported to continental countries such as Spain, but with the euro in trouble, we want to reduce our reliance on these markets and grow UK sales,” he said.

MNFA expects to source shellfish not just from his 90-vessel member group but from fishermen along the western seaboard. “We will be taking product from fishermen all along the west coast and we will be able to increase the price if they consistently land a good product.”

Andy McTeare, Sainsbury's fish buyer, told FoodManufacture.co.uk: "We are keen to boost demand for langoustines and reduce reliance on imported warm water prawns.

"As well as adding a delicious product to our fish counters it is benefiting fishermen as well – supporting the whole supply chain.”

Another major supermarket chain has also expressed interest in buying shellfish from the association.

Smallest fishing fleet

Meanwhile, recent statistics confirm that 367,000t of Scottish sea fish were landed last year from the smallest fishing fleet on record – just 2,150 boats.

The catch was valued at more than £430M; down on the landings recorded in 2009.

Scottish government fisheries secretary Richard Lochhead said: “While the value of landings has dropped slightly compared with 2009, we had seen a particularly large increase in value between 2008 and 2009. This year's landings – worth £435M – is still five% higher, in real terms, than the value of 2008 landings.”

Bertie Armstrong, chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen's Federation, said: “Although these statistics show a slight downturn in the value of fish landed, as well as the size of the fleet and number of people employed, they do highlight the crucial role that Scotland's fishing fleet plays in the country's economy … and underpins an important export market.”