Mapping the UK Seafood Supply Chain, 2009-2020

Lofstedt, Anneli and Scheliga, Bernhard (2025). Mapping the UK Seafood Supply Chain, 2009-2020. [Data Collection]. Colchester, Essex: UK Data Service. 10.5255/UKDA-SN-856955

To ensure healthy, sustainable and secure food environments, it is important to understand how our diets relate to food supply chains - what is being produced, what is imported and exported, and how does supply relate to what we eat and what we should be eating? This is particularly relevant for the seafood chain, which is operated across different sectors (fisheries and aquaculture), with sub-sectors having distinct supply chain routes, operational models and timescales to market. Also, concentration of consumer demand around the ‘big five’ (cod, haddock, tuna, salmon, prawns) leaves us with an imbalance in terms of seafood supplies, with most of our own produce being exported and the majority of the fish that we process or consume being imported. Both changes in supply and demand for seafood may be needed to address the mismatch of what is consumed in the UK and what is being produced.

Data description (abstract)

Seafood can contribute towards healthy and sustainable food systems by improving public health and helping achieve net zero carbon emissions. Here, we provide a high-resolution perspective on United Kingdom (UK) seafood supplies and nutrient flows at species level. We mapped seafood production (capture and aquaculture), trade (imports and exports), purchases (within and out-of-home), and seafood consumption, between 2009 and 2020. UK dietary recommendations for finfish consumption were not achieved by domestic production nor national supplies. Mapping dietary nutrient flows revealed that the UK undergoes substantial losses of omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins B12 and D, that could contribute 73 %, 46 %, and 7 % towards UK recommended nutrient intakes, respectively, through exports of oily fish such as salmon, herring, and mackerel. Policies should consider promoting greater consumption of locally produced oily fish species to improve public health and seafood system resilience.

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