London
Many Scottish fishermen have halted exports to European Union markets after post-Brexit bureaucracy added days to their delivery times and hundreds of pounds to the costs of each load.
Fishing exporters have said their businesses could become unviable after the introduction of health certificates, customs declarations and other paperwork.
Business owners said they had tried to send small deliveries to France and Spain to test the new systems this week but it was taking 5 hours to secure a health certificate in Scotland, a document which is required to apply for other customs paperwork.
In the first working week after Brexit, one-day deliveries were taking three or more days if they got through at all.
Several owners could not say for sure where their valuable cargo was. A trade group told fishermen to stop fishing exported stocks.
“Our customers are pulling out,” Santiago Buesa of SB Fish said.—AN
