Lerwick pelagic fish processors Shetland Catch has blamed a GBP 6 million loss last year on the ongoing international dispute over mackerel quotas.??The company said mackerel prices had plummeted after Iceland and Faroe flooded the East European market with cheap fish having massively increased their own quotas.
Chairman John Goodlad said the political row over mackerel was having real consequences on shore side businesses, but prices had started to stabilize.
??Figures released this month show that Shetland Catch, Europe’s largest pelagic processor, turnover in the year until 31 March 2012 ell 31.4 percent to GBP 48.7 million.??
A pre-tax profit of £5.6 million had been followed by a GBP 6 million loss, with gross profit margins plunging from 23 percent to just 10 percent as a direct result of the influx of vast quantities of cheap mackerel from Iceland and Faroe. ??
The company has also been hit by a GBP 150,000 fine coupled with a GBP 1.5 million repayment order for their part in the biggest black fish fraud in Scottish history. ??
Shetland Catch said it welcomed the conclusion of the Operation Trawler investigation of landings between 2002 and 2005, and that it had until June 2015 to pay the penalty.
