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COPENHAGEN – Scottish fishermen have increasingly turned to fish auctions in Denmark in the first two weeks of the year to avoid having their deliveries to the European Union (EU) blocked by post-Brexit red tape.
A fish auction in Hanstholm on Denmark’s west coast has so far this year sold 525 tonnes of fish from Scottish fishing vessels, more than double compared to the same period last year.
“We’ve had an awful lot of inquiries from Scottish fishermen about landing their catch in Hanstholm,” Jesper Kongsted, who heads the auction, told Reuters. “This is very good for our business.”
Last July, Boris Johnson paid a flying visit to Orkney – his first to Scotland since the General Election. He stood on a trawler in Stromness harbour, spoke to local fishermen and waved around some fine Orkney crab for the cameras. The pictures were a spin doctor’s dream – a graphic illustration of the Prime Minister harvesting the “sea of opportunity” that he had promised during the referendum of 2016. By December, the dashboard was full of warning lights that Johnson’s commitment to the industry would only last until the cameras were packed away. Having nodded sympathetically to the Orkney fishermen who had hosted his photoshoot in the hope of finally seeing some Government concessions on visas for crew to work on their boats, the Prime Minister’s Christmas gift to the fleet was to tell them instead that nothing was going to change.