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GRIMSBY'S only remaining fish meal plant is set to become the one of the most pivotal sites in Europe for environmentally converting fish waste, it was revealed yesterday.
Details of the new set up were announced at a special press day in the Humber port when United Fish Industries (UFI), which owns the plant, outlined its vision for the future.
In February, the parent company Origin Enterprises announced that UFI, its marine proteins operation, was merging with Austevoll's Norwegian fish meal subsidiary Welcon into one large organisation. The deal affected UFI's fish meal plants at Grimsby, Aberdeen and Killybegs in Ireland.
This week Grimsby production manager Mike Hyryckowia said the deal was good news for the fish trade in both England and Scotland. "We have a symbiotic relationship with the fish trade - we need their waste, but the processing industry would have a real problem if we were not here."
The Grimsby site alone processes over 40,000 tonnes of fish trimmings into more than 8,000 tonnes of fish meal which is used as animal feed for poultry and pigs. Another important by-product was fish oil, used in industry. As fishing landings increased, he expected that figure to rise.
Mike added that UFI had already ploughed large sums of money into modernising the two UK plants and was confident that investment would continue. 'Fish processors are one part of the food production chain - we like to think that we are at the other end of that very important chain.'
Should fisheries be closed during breeding time to allow stocks to reach more sustainable levels?
