It would seem that recruiting young people to vocations that requires tolerance of long or unsociable hours, uncomfortable or challenging physical and environmental conditions, tolerance of what mother nature might throw our way or repetitive tasks i s fast becoming the number one challenge in modern Britain. Seafish's report provides some pretty uncomfortable reading for those who need to recruit staff from their local communities.
For many years, agriculture in particular has in the UK has relied heavily on seasonal workers from out of area or abroad - now the fishing industry seems to have followed suit. It has not gone unnoticed that many UK fishing vessels and fish processing plants are now heavily dependent on workers from abroad.
While this may suit individual business owners there may be consequences in the mid to long term with regard to recruitment for those skilled roles requiring consistency and continuity of service and supply - ie skippers, mates, engineers, production managers and managers from local communities.
Signs that this is more than a temporary hiccup have been acknowledged at the very highest level of government are in that next month will see the All Party Parliamentary Group on Fishing hold the first of its meetings to discuss the issue at a national level.
Here's Seafish CEO, Marcus Coleman and his monthly catch-up talking about this very issue!
Seafish maintain a comprehensive section for apprenticeships for every aspect of the fishing industry on their website.
These issues are not unique to the UK of course - take a look at the current campaign in France on the same subject New Horizons - (hint - use Translate) - seems those pesky grenouilles are one step ahead of the UK again!