Last week I visited Grimsby, one of the UK’s major seafood processing hubs, contributing a fifth of total UK seafood processing revenues.
A significant proportion of the 1.5 million fish fingers we eat in the UK every day come from Young’s bespoke Grimsby factory. In my role as Fisheries Minister I found it very useful to hear directly from a range of businesses across Grimsby’s processing sector and to see first hand the work that goes into putting the UK’s seafood on tables at home and around the world.
As an MP in neighbouring Nottinghamshire, I know first-hand the importance of the sector in the region, with Grimsby alone generating a third of seafood processing employment across the UK. The seafood industry we see in the town today is built on an incredible heritage spanning back to the 1850s. It’s vital we put it on a sustainable footing to not only preserve, but build upon, this rich history.
