Since joining as CEO of Seafish, I’ve spent a great deal of time listening to people from across the UK’s seafood sectors.  

I’ve heard that businesses are facing increasing pressure from a range of economic, environmental and global challenges and they need our support to help them thrive.  

That’s why our work as part of our 2026/27 Annual Plan is now focused around three strategic outcomes:

• Supporting a safe and skilled workforce
• Enabling smoother and expanding seafood trade
• Building a resilient supply chain

The resilient supply chain outcome is particularly significant because whether it’s responding to climate change, adapting to evolving markets, improving environmental performance or embracing innovation, resilience is about helping businesses navigate change with confidence.  

Taking steps towards net zero 

One example of this is our work to help the industry better understand and reduce its carbon emissions.  

Through the Seafood Carbon Emissions Profiling Tool (SCEPT), Seafish has been working with businesses across the supply chain to provide a practical way of measuring carbon emission risks, or hotspots, within seafood supply chains.  

By giving businesses access to robust data and insights, we’re helping them make informed decisions and take meaningful steps towards net zero.

The tool already has significant endorsement by the retail sector, with both Tesco and Waitrose rolling it out across their seafood supply chains.  

To date, more than 150 businesses have signed up to the SCEPT across seven different countries.

Investments for the future

Resilience is also about ensuring the industry can continue to operate efficiently in the years ahead.   

That’s why we’re investing in fishing gear innovation and supporting trials that explore new approaches to fishing.   

These projects help improve selectivity, reduce unwanted catches, lessen environmental impacts and identify opportunities to improve fuel efficiency, which I believe are in line with changing consumer demands that make seafood’s sustainability credentials all the more important.  

By bringing together fishermen, scientists, regulators and supply chain partners, we’re helping to generate the practical evidence needed to support future improvements.  

Supporting data and analysis

Alongside this, we’re helping build knowledge and capability across the industry through initiatives such as visits to the internationally recognised flume tank facility in Denmark.   

These opportunities enable supply chain businesses, fishing organisations, policymakers and scientists to see first-hand how different gear designs perform in the water and how small changes can influence selectivity, environmental impact and energy efficiency.   

By creating a shared understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing the sector, we’re supporting better decision-making and encouraging collaboration across industry, Government and environmental organisations.  

Underpinning all of this work is our commitment to providing trusted data, insight and analysis.   

Seafish has an important role to play in helping businesses understand emerging risks, identify opportunities and prepare for the future.  

That is what our focus on a resilient supply chain is all about – not only responding to today’s pressures but helping create the conditions for a stronger and more confident future for UK seafood.  

The full Seafish Annual Plan 2026/27 is available here: Seafish Annual Plan 2026/27: Delivering Impact Together | Seafish.

We would welcome further industry input on what more may be needed to support supply chain resilience in the sector. Please let us know your thoughts by emailing enquiries@seafish.co.uk.

Colin Faulker joined Seafish as CEO in January 2026. He was previously head of international fisheries and seafood trade policy at Defra and has worked both in the private sector and in constitutional, environment and fisheries policy roles in the UK and Scottish Governments.

Seafish is a non-departmental public body (NDPB) set up by the Fisheries Act 1981 and sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish devolved administrations.