Will Clark has been appointed vice-chair of the Seafood Scotland (SFS) Board.
He says his mission is to develop the Peterhead and Fraserburgh Fish Processors’ Association into a country-wide organisation, the Scottish Seafood Association (SSA). He is also pleased to be playing a more active role in steering Seafood Scotland forward.
“My organisation was a founder member of Seafood Scotland and it has been a privilege to see it evolve into a highly efficient body that is going from strength to strength in developing, marketing and promoting sustainable seafood. My appointment as vice-chair will help to strengthen representation of the northeast processing sector, and I hope that this remit will soon widen to cover the whole of Scotland,” he said.
“The processing industry, as all other seafood sectors, works in an increasingly challenging environment and we feel the time is right to seek increased political recognition and representation. We need to ensure that government does not think the industry stops at the pier end, and our new organisation, which currently has more than 40 members, aims to address this. In short, it will take the whole of the Scottish processing industry onto a new footing,” he advised.
Will Clark believes there is a lack of representation for the downstream services that rely on a viable catching and processing industry. “The SSA will be open to affiliated interests such as net manufacturers, haulage and transport companies, box manufacturers and even elements of the catching sector. There has been criticism by politicians and unelected officials that the industry is fragmented, so the new association will bring everyone together. We will seek to ensure a viable industry, which in turn supports our fishing dependent communities,” he stated. “We will also work with SFS to deliver a strong message that the industry is a rewarding, highly skilled career.”
Over the past two years, more than 50% of Will Clark’s members have benefited from financial assistance under Seafood Scotland’s Value Added Project, which was jointly funded by Scottish Enterprise, the European Fisheries Fund and Aberdeenshire Council.
This scheme, which finished in the summer and has been superseded by a ‘Maximising Value’ programme, provided up to five days of fully funded consultant time to help processing companies undertake projects including website development, setting up direct trading operations, re-engineering of packaging, developing branding strategies, creating new product ranges and undertaking promotional work.
