Seafood Scotland showcased Scotland and Shetland's pelagic industries to the German and Dutch Press this week, by hosting a visit of Dutch and German seafood industry journalists.

The group toured vessels and processing units to see how the UK industry handles a fresh product from the point of catch, and were impressed by the whole operation. "Our vessels have refrigerated seawater tanks which ensure that fish quality is continually maintained until it is pumped ashore into state of the art factories for immediate processing. This is a very different system to that used in the Netherlands and Germany, where vessels deliver frozen at sea fish to onshore processing units," explains John Goodlad, director of Shetland Catch and Chair of the Scottish Pelagic Sustainability Group (SPSG).

A prime purpose of the visit was to discuss the current initiative to achieve Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) accreditation for Western mackerel and North Sea herring stocks as sustainable and well managed fisheries, which is being overseen by the SSPG, whose membership includes Shetland Catch and the Shetland PO. "European customers are increasingly seeking sustainably certified products and the entire pelagic industry is pleased to show its commitment to sustainable sourcing by undergoing the process of MSC accreditation," says Derek Duthie, Secretary of the SPSG.

"This was a fascinating visit that gave us a whole new insight into the Scottish industry, especially the way the fish is handled fresh onboard the vessels and during the pumping ashore process. We hope that it may open up new business opportunities with Dutch and German retailers and wholesalers, for companies in Scotland and Shetland" said Gijsbert van der Bent of Visserijnieuws.