EU referendum, brexit and the aftermath

Pugs' ears definitely seem less tidy than pigs' ears.

Probably less tasty. Pig's ears are like hairy bacon. Sliced pig's ears, anyway.

Good thing I'll never find out!

Save yourself. It's too late for me...

Should be shaved before cooking and then they turn into pork scratching.

The Chinese liked the hairs though. Bristley bacon. Yummy.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-54950011#comp-comments-button

Still no deal and Eustice says "Oh it can be done, if not WTO is fine"

Does he believe that himself?

Entering into the era of the Emperor's No Deal

UK fishing industry seems to have finally cottoned on to what being outside the single market and customs union means- even with a deal a minimum 48 hour delay for all exports. How long does shellfish last, remind me?

Forget about selling it fresh then, will have to be frozen.

But then you need the freezing capacity also. I don't know actually how it's sold, Norwegian prawns sold in the UK are normally sold frozen.

Scottish mackerel is smoked so it lasts.

But not sure if that applies to all products.

How long does shellfish last, remind me?

I don't know but I think a lot if not most of our shellfish catch is frozen and shipped to China.

Are we heading for an extension? The first of many? BRINO

Doesn't the scampi from the North Sea make an insane trip to the Netherlands to be landed, then the far east to be breaded and packed, then back to Scotland to be sold?

Everything will have to renegotiated, to get to brino it's a slow climb back from current thin deal...

Read some chat they are trying to get a year extension on Irish sea border checks.

Close enough.

https://www.airportwatch.org.uk/2007/01/british-prawns-go-to-china-to-be-shelled/

I liked yesterday the suggestion that the hilltop lamb farmers just need to be a bit more proactive and switch to cattle, problem with lamb tariffs goes away, they just need to embrace these new opportunites

I don't know but I think a lot if not most of our shellfish catch is frozen and shipped to China.

Shellfish sector facts

• The shellfish sector is the largest of the three fishing sectors in the UK, representing 36% of the value of fish landed into the UK and abroad by UK vessels, and 46% of the value of fish landed into the UK in 2016. The total value at first landing was estimated at £339m, with landings into the UK of £318m. These figures exclude value added through processing, packaging and marketing, and changes in values since 2016.
  
• The shellfish sector is dispersed around the coastline of the whole of the UK and is important economically and culturally to a large number of ports and coastal communities. At least 1933 vessels (41% of all active fishing vessels) fish for shellfish in the UK, supporting at least 4,313 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs (54% of all FTEs involved in fishing). Shellfish are processed at 79 shellfish-only processing facilities and 55 mixed species processors, with shellfish-only sites accounting for an estimated 3,950 FTE jobs (29% of all FTE jobs in sea fish processing).
  
• Most UK shellfish is exported to the EU – live, fresh or chilled shellfish provides the highest value. Fresh, frozen and smoked shellfish exports in 2017 were valued at over £500m, with exports to the EU in the region of £432m (85%) and exports to the rest of the world in the region of £77m (15%). The UK also exported £39m of prepared shellfish to the EU. The UK market for UK shellfish, although highly valued by the fishing industry, is believed to be small in relation to the EU market for these same fish. The principal destinations of UK shellfish in the EU are France, Spain and Italy. Key rest of the world markets include China and South Korea.
  With very few exceptions, it is the trade in live, fresh or chilled shellfish with EU Member States which provided the highest value. For the most part, it would appear that UK shellfish exports to the EU are consumed within EU member states, rather than being further traded to other non-EU countries.
  
• The relevance of particular countries for UK shellfish exports varies by species; eg, brown crab (France, Spain and Portugal), velvet crab (Spain), lobster (France and Spain), Nephrops (France and Spain), cuttlefish (Spain, Italy and the Netherlands), scallops (France and Italy), clams (France, Spain, the Netherlands), and mussels (the Netherlands). France is the principal export market for crustaceans, followed by Spain, Portugal and Italy, while the Netherlands and, to a lesser extent, Spain and France are of particular relevance for molluscs, and Spain, Italy and the Netherlands are of relevance for cephalopods.
  
  

https://fishingnews.co.uk/news/brexit-shellfish-threat-no-deal-brexit-shellfish-warning/

Hard to read those numbers, but if they land 318+339 = £657m, and then export 500+77 = £577m, then I guess 657 - 577 = £80m ish stays in the UK?

I'm confident that the fishing industry has always had a great plan for growing the UK shellfish market from £80m -> £657m over the course of the next six months, else why would they have wanted to Brexit so hard.

Maybe shellfish are a suitable substitute good for lots of other products we won't be able to get soon...

Wow, that is bleak.

There was an article on fishing in NI on BBC (can dig it out let me know if you want it)

Now those towns tend to be unionist, so identity/instinct voting played a role.

Ultimately though many were still sore about EU quota (which are a bit low for some seafood as set in 1975) and blamed the EU on the decline in fishing...though most of that was caused by the UK government quota system.

Of course those feelings easily got exploited and here we are now. The only one that disagreed was a younger scallops fisher who was worried about EU markets/his fishing rights in Bay of Biscay, the older ones were all "no, get us out!"

I think it's all fine - fishermen can just learn to code.

you mean "cyber"

Too late. The deadline for extending the transition period was back in June and our glorious leaders decided not to extend, despite a global pandemic.

Cattle basking on the Sunlit Uplands

Is fishing the only thing the UK does? I know fish and chips is popular with you lot but what about other delicacies like the "fry up" and Bovril? What are the Brexiteers plans for those vast export markets?