UK fishing body Seafish has released its Seafood in Numbers 2022 report, an annual look at the UK seafood industry revealing how much seafood the UK caught, farmed, traded and ate in 2022.
Seafish said the data reveals “key trends” for seafood in imports, exports, fishing, processing and consumption. It is displayed through an interactive web experience hosted on Seafish’s website, which the body said “allows people to explore data at their own pace” on the “user-friendly” platform.
The data pulled from across the organisation’s economics and insight work revealed that:
- The UK fishing fleet caught 618,759 tonnes of fish in 2022, which could provide enough seafood to feed the population of Europe two portions of seafood a week
- The value of imports was nearly five times higher than the value of fish landed in the UK
- Seafood eaten out of home continued to grow as the sector started to recover from Covid, although it is still around 20% lower than pre-Covid levels
- Tuna overtook salmon as the most purchased seafood species in supermarkets as consumers started to “feel the cost-of-living pinch”.
Jennifer Robson, head of economics, insight and advice said: “Collaboration within the seafood industry is at the heart of Seafood in Numbers. The insights from our annual surveys are a direct result of the collective effort and support of our industry stakeholders.
“The willingness of our industry partners to actively participate in the data gathering process has been instrumental. By working together, we have been able to compile a comprehensive picture of the UK seafood landscape.”
January 2024 webinar
To support the UK Seafood in Numbers 2022 launch, Seafish said it will host a webinar in January 2024 led by Robson, alongside economic researcher Sheriene Murphy. It said the webinar will provide background on the current state of the UK seafood industry and explain Seafish’s data collection process, with a sneak peek into the day of a field researcher surveying the fishing fleet.
Seafish stated that its team will identify key trends and discuss the practical implications of the findings for businesses and other industry stakeholders, welcoming both new entrants to the industry and professionals looking for a “deeper understanding” of the latest trends.
