Access to skilled labour has continued to be the dominant employment issue for the UK fishing fleet, a new report from Seafish has found.
The 2024 Employment in the UK Fishing Fleet Report has revealed less than a quarter of skippers and vessel owners interviewed at the time rated access to skilled labour ‘good’ or ‘very good’ while nearly half rated it ‘bad’ or ‘very bad’.
The parts of the fleet most affected by recruitment challenges include the scallop dredgers and nephrops and demersal trawlers over 10m, as they typically require a larger number of crew.
Vessel operators reported that the issues were impacting days at sea and fishing activities.
Aging workforce
The aging workforce is a key issue contributing to the skilled labour shortage, with the overall age of the sector 44 – four years older than reported in Seafish’s 2021 employment report.
Additionally, vessels registered in England had the largest proportion of workers over 60, who largely were owners working on static under-10m and low-activity vessels.
Other challenges include difficulties in finding local crew, while other industries such as wind and aquaculture are seen as the main competitors.
Some vessel operators also highlighted how changes to the visa system have made it more difficult and more costly to recruit skilled crew from overseas.
“This issue is critical as the shortage of labour has economic implications for both businesses and the wider economy,” said Neil McAleese. “The industry continues to experience a decline in full-time employees due to an aging workforce, insufficient domestic entrants, and changes in the skilled worker visa policy affecting the viability of recruiting migrant workers.”
Seafish is working in partnership with industry stakeholders and government to find solutions to these challenges, including developing and delivering training courses designed to attract new entrants to the industry.
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