A north-east councillor sent on seafood fact-finding mission hopes to use what she learned to boost the local industry
Fraserburgh independent councillor Doreen Mair was one of four people who went on a “learning journey” to seafood training establishments in Humberside and Billingsgate.
Aberdeenshire Council covered Ms Mair’s £350 travel costs for the trip.
Ms Mair believes she learned lessons from her involvement with the initiative which can be worthwhile to the region in the future.
She said: “The seafood industry is a key part of the local economy and the council is always looking at ways in which we can help the industry move forward and increase the economic benefits for our community.
“The purpose of the visit was to find out what had been tried elsewhere to boost investment in seafood-related skills.
“I think it is fair to say that we all found it extremely informative – learning what does and doesn’t work and how we can plan for the future to make any facility undertaking this work the most efficient, adaptive and cost effective.”
Donna Fordyce, head of industry engagement at Seafood Scotland, Opportunity North East director Peter Cook and Aberdeenshire Council’s rural and maritime support executive Derek McDonald also went on the excursion.
Mr McDonald added: “For the north-east industry to move forward, higher levels of skills training are required, but we need to understand how best to work with industry to make it happen as we can’t afford to waste scarce resources.”
