Rounding up 2022
Happy New Year!
Throughout 2022 our Executive Director (ED) had a busy year collaborating with organisations, and representing FASFA at many meetings, along with activities to support, promote and highlight the integrity and long-term sustainability of frozen at sea fillets of cod and haddock.
2022 in summary:
As foreign travel from the UK opened, we were able to attend in person the Norwegian Frozen at Sea Conference in Aalesund, and present- ‘Frozen at Sea, and its position in the UK’. During this visit, we met with our Norwegian members and associates. In April we attended and met many of our members at Seafood Expo Global in Barcelona. The event had not been held for 2 years due to the COVID pandemic, and therefore it was an extremely busy event.
FASFA works closely with the Norwegian Seafood Council and Seafood from Iceland, and we had many meetings throughout the year to ensure full collaboration with their UK activity and promotions, and we look forward to continuing this in 2023. In addition, we now attend the Icelandic Ocean Cluster meetings, for updates on fish waste and utilisation.
UK Seafood organisations and the Government hold many forums and webinars to update businesses on new issues, data, and regulations that may affect their business, with a view to receiving feedback on how this will affect various parts of the supply chain. At FASFA, we therefore, attended throughout 2022 the valued British Frozen Food Federation/Seafish Importers Forum, Import regulation seminars, plastic packaging tax webinar, Defra Seafood Industry forum for Trade (SIFT), and bespoke Fish & Chip webinars to discuss a range of topics.
As Associate members of the National Federation of Fish Friers (NFFF), our ED attended the annual meeting. We sit on the Seafish Consumer and supply chain panel, which held 3 meetings in 2022, this is one of three panels, which provide the Seafish board with agreed priorities for each sector and propose work under each of the budgets.
Our ED strives to be an advocate for Women in the Seafood industry and was delighted to speak at the Women in Fish & Chips last year, as well as joining the new UK Women in Fisheries network. This new network is active on social media and is providing a valuable support platform for many different women working across the UK seafood supply chain.
FASFA contributed to many articles and reports last year; this included the Seafish Climate Change adaption for Wild Caught Seafood, the World Economic Forum report and case study about processing at sea, and we assisted the Global Seafood Alliance with their Worker Voice Project. As well as regular articles in the Fish Friers Review and Fry Magazine.
We are delighted that the NFFF is now organising the National Fish & Chip Awards, and we have been actively assisting with the process, including many rounds of judging. We are excited about the main event which will take place on the 28th of February 2023, and we will hold the FASFA Annual General Meeting prior to the awards.
As a large part of our work is to educate and inform about frozen at sea, we were grateful to the crew of the UK-flagged vessel – Kirkella. Four study tour trips were organised in 2022 when she was moored in Hull. A full tour of the vessel and a fish and chip lunch was organised for WI members, Fish & Chip shop owners, NGOs, media, seafood businesses, and associations. We look forward to welcoming many more interested parties on board in 2023.
We supported the National Fish and Chip Day in May with a social media plan, and in September we supported the British Frozen Food Federation Frozen Food Week using their asset pack to celebrate frozen fish.
Throughout the year we communicated our updates, and shared members’ updates via social media, particularly Facebook and Instagram and we update our YouTube and website with new material periodically. Our members receive a bespoke monthly newsletter.
To end the summary; Seafish highlighted the Top Takeaways for us:
Fish and chips remain the most popular British dish, in the two-year ending (2YE) September 2022: Two-thirds of all fish and chips servings Out of Home (OOH) are from Fish and Chip Shops
Fish and chips are a popular way for consumers to enjoy seafood, with fish and chips served as a meal representing around 20% of all the seafood servings consumed in food service.
In the 2YE September 2022, 336 million servings of fish and chips were sold. This was a 0.3%* decrease when compared to 2YE September 2021*. This accounted for 1.2 million fewer fish and chips servings over the course of the last two years. However, this shows some recovery, as data to 2YE September 2021 showed a 10% decline in fish and chip servings compared with 2YE September 2020. This accounted for 39 million servings of fish and chips lost over the course of the pandemic.
Fish and chips are the most popular British dish Fish and chips take the number one spot for the most popular British dish with its popularity increasing by 2% in Quarter 3 (Q3) 2022 compared to Quarter 2 (Q2) 2022, according to a survey by You Gov. They also remain the most famous with 98% of respondents knowing of the dish.
Best Fishes for all in 2023.