Seafish, the UK authority on seafood, has announced that its Chief Executive John Rutherford will be retiring by the end of June 2010.

Recruitment consultants have been appointed to find his successor and the successful candidate will begin work in March 2010, with Mr Rutherford leaving the organisation by the end of June 2010.

John Rutherford said, “I have had the privilege of serving the seafood industry in what must rank as one of the industry’s best jobs for the past eight years. In that time we have redefined Seafish’s role and made great progress to improve the value for money our organisation delivers to industry.”

Charles Howeson, Chairman of Seafish, said: “John leaves behind him a legacy of performance improvement and accountability, and our heartfelt thanks go to him on behalf of industry for the vigour and intelligence he has brought to this important role. We are now actively seeking a successor for John to continue developing focused, value-for-money services for the seafood industry.”