INTERVIEW WITH CEO OF NAFC

Interview with CEO of NAFC.

In this exclusive interview with Fish Focus, Phil Haslam, CEO of the North Atlantic Fishing Company, scotches some of myths with regards to pelagic fishing and outlines the important role it plays in ensuring global food security.

Fish Focus: Tell me a bit about North Atlantic Fishing – boats in the fleet, tonnages caught, and markets supplied?

Phil Haslam: North Atlantic Fishing Company was established in the UK in 1984.  We currently own and operate a fleet of fishing vessels, including the pelagic freezer trawlers Frank Bonefaas, Wiron 5 and Wiron 6. Along with a demersal beamer, Northern Joy.  We fish in UK and EU waters of the Channel, North Sea and Northeast Atlantic Ocean. All of our vessels are registered in Hull and many of our crew are British nationals from the Humberside region. Our two Wiron vessels have recently started landing into Hull in July 2022 to meet the revised UK Economic Link license conditions. We are working with a number of local businesses to support our operations. 

All our catch is sold exclusively for human consumption with the tiny exclusion of anything below the minimum landing size. We export the majority of our catch to developing regions in Africa and Asia, but also supply European and Japanese customers.

Our biggest vessel, The Frank Bonefaas is 112 metres long, processes up to 250 tonnes of fish per day and has a 3,500-tonne capacity in cold store, which is equivalent to 7 million fish meals allowing the Frank Bonefaas to supply a staggering 285 million fish meals a year.

I have been with the company since 2021 following nearly 28 years in the Royal Navy and 9 years in delivering fisheries and marine conservation management and compliance as CEO of Eastern IFCA and Operations Director of the MMO.

What have the markets been like this year for pelagics, and how has the Ukraine war (plus Covid and Brexit) affected the dynamics?

PH: The market for pelagics has been encouraging this year. We have established and long-standing customers and we have been able to maintain our delivery of affordable, sustainable pelagic fish to them despite the disruption of late caused by global events. The stocks we fish are well managed, sustainable and we expect to be able to continue our responsible fishing operations into the future to meet the increasing demand for affordable and nutritious protein for human consumption with a minimised carbon footprint. Pelagic fish which feed naturally and do not emit methane are recognised as meeting this demand and compare very favourably against other animal protein such as beef, pork, poultry, and farmed fish.

How do you foresee the market panning-out over the next few years – for example do you see global demand increasing?

PH: The combination of pelagic fish availability, quality and price along with its nutritional value and low carbon footprint make it a very viable commodity to meet the protein needs of a growing global population. A large part of the world population depends on fish as their main source of healthy animal protein. As the world population grows, I expect the demand for affordable, high-protein food to increase proportionately. Considering there are 7.9 billion people in the world currently and that UN expects this number to reach 8.5 billion by 2030, and 11 billion by 2100, demand for this sustainable and affordable produce will continue.

Is the continuing suspension of MSC certification for north-east Atlantic mackerel and blue whiting creating problems for yourselves and is this an issue you would like to see resolved– and if so, how? 

PH: These suspensions are due to the poor behaviour of some of our northern fishing neighbours in catching more than their historic allocations. A lot of work is currently going on at the UK chaired NEAFC Coastal States forum to try to fix this problem.

We operate to very high standards and receiving external validation of our standards, along with those of other operators, is useful to demonstrate responsible catching practices. Similarly, validation of fisheries management measures is also useful in providing further evidence of the sustainable management of stocks. There is a lot of assertion and unevidenced rhetoric surrounding fishing and any authoritative input to help balance the debate and support consumer confidence in helpful.

The pelagic sector, in particular large freezer-trawlers, often come under criticism from environmentalists because they claim they are unsustainable and damage stocks. How do you respond to such criticisms – and is it a challenge getting your perspective over to the general public?

PH: Everyone is entitled to their opinion but there is a lot of deliberate misinformation and disinformation with no supporting evidence peddled with regard to our operations. Our vessels are often dubbed “supertrawlers” and we are accused of interrupting the operations of other fishers and causing environment damage. This is a compelling story for those who seek the limelight and like to create division, but it is not true. It is also often stated that we are hazarding the conservation objectives of Marine Protected Areas designed to protect species and habitats. The facts are that our vessels fish using pelagic trawls which never come into contact with the seabed and thus does not have any effect on seabed habitats. Similarly, the charge that we are hazarding the functioning of marine ecosystems through the volume of our catch does not reflect the fact that the quota we are allocated reflects only that element of the fish stock that is available for harvest for human consumption. In making this calculation, fisheries scientists, managers and Government officials have factored the requirements for breeding stock and food supply to other marine animals.  We catch relatively large quantities of fish when compared to other non-pelagic fisheries, but they are sourced from vast stocks that are carefully managed to assure they are sustainable.

We operate in a highly regulated industry and can only catch that which Government, scientists and Fishing Authorities permit. Regular inspection by UK and EU Fisheries Authorities demonstrates our full compliance with regulations. We are very confident that our operations are both responsible and sustainable. But we know we can go further which is why we invest a lot of time and money in innovation to make sure we regularly review our techniques and that we are able to seize upon fishing technological advances as they are developed.  We collect, collate and analyse the data from each trip very carefully and we collaborate with scientists and research institutes to make sure our data can be used to support sustainable practice.  For those that are willing to listen, we are very happy to share our story of selective, sustainable and responsible fishing. We are food producers who thoroughly respect the natural limitations of the marine environment and the fish stocks that we harvest.

Pressure for businesses to reduce their carbon footprint is increasing all the time – are there any steps North Atlantic Fishing is taking to reduce emissions and will this be an increasing focus in future years?

PH: Through our Corporate Social Responsibility strategy that has been created jointly with our parent company Cornelis Vrolijk BV, we are reviewing the carbon footprint of all of our operations from fuel consumption and waste management to innovative working practices to reduce energy consumption. All food production produces CO2 emissions, but we are working to minimise ours to make sure we play out part in helping to achieve UK net-zero by 2050.

We minimise CO2 emissions through economical use of engines, the use of ‘clean’ marine fuels and investment in in latest freezing technology using low impact gasses. On-board processing is highly efficient, meaning our vessels can be at sea longer than vessels that do not freeze their catch at sea. By staying on the fishing grounds for longer periods we optimise fuel usage during our trips and catch our quotas in a highly efficient manner.