A top seafood exporter, Andrew Rooney pleas to Executive for help

Andrew Rooney, managing director of Rooney Fish, Northern Ireland’s biggest processor of locally sourced prawns and other seafood for international markets, has warned Executive ministers about threats facing his company and others in the industry.

He’s appealed to Agriculture minister Edwin Poots and Diane Dodds at the Department for the Economy for urgent help for the beleaguered processing industry due to Covid-19 restrictions on fishing especially the fleet of prawn boats at Kilkeel, Portavogie and Ardglass.

“We need help and as soon as possible to help cover staff wages, overheads and other costs that are continuing against the background of the pandemic rules,” he warns.

Prawns remain the biggest catch for the local fishing industry and are worth almost £12 million in a total income of £25 million. Prawn fishing has also had to surmount strict EU quotas over many years.

Rooney Fish has long been a local leader in processing prawns especially for export markets from Europe to China. It’s a business driven by Andrew, a successful global salesman behind significant business for the company especially in China, Korea and Japan.

He’s worried now that he may not be able to meet the demand from abroad for whole prawns because of the Executive’s £1.7 million funding of a scheme to enable fishermen to tie up their boats for period of months due to Covid-19.

He’s told the ministers in a blunt message: “While I have substantial orders for whole prawns from existing and new customers especially outside Northern Ireland I am now not processing any due to this scheme.

“Customers are asking about supply especially for the upcoming Christmas season. I am not sure what I am going to do to protect this and future business which is vitally important for us.

“We usually get good prices for prawns during the run-in to Christmas which is then reflected in our deals with the fishermen,” he says.

“My back is now against the wall because of the scheme and it could hit our sales hard. Christmas is vitally important for us ahead of the traditionally slower early months of the year ahead.

“I fear that good customers will be lost if I am unable to provide the prawns. If customers leave, it will be hard to get them back.”

Andrew appreciates the need for measures to tackle the Covid-19 threat and has invested a significant amount in extensive hand sanitation, wearing of masks and social distancing rules at its processing plant and offices overlooking Kilkeel harbour.

“We’ve always operated very strict hygiene rules for staff in the processing of seafood for all our customers. It’s at the very heart of our business. We value the health and safety of all our staff and customers,” he says.

He’s grateful for the three month’s rate relief for the company from government earlier in the crisis.

“While I was thankful for this and it certainly helped the business, we need it again….and as soon as practicable,” he adds.

The gravity of the situation has forced Andrew to place the company’s 40 employees on temporary furlough.

As a result of the business acumen and enterprise of Andrew and John, his late father, who died earlier in the year, Rooney Fish is now among Northern Ireland’s most successful exporters and the leader in fish and seafood such as prawns, whole crabs and crab claws, mussels, lobsters and oysters.

The oysters from Carlingford Lough and marketed under the Millbay brand have won a host of awards for outstanding quality and texture. These include three stars in the UK Great Taste Awards. The company now runs Ireland’s biggest oyster farm in the lough’s pristine waters.

It’s an enterprising and innovative small business that’s committed to ‘capturing the flavour of nature’s fresh harvest from the Irish Sea’.

As a result, it exports virtually everything it currently processes.

“We’ve had to adapt, innovate and invest time and resources in international markets because of the challenges the local fishing industry has faced particularly from EU quotas,” he says.

“Innovation for markets beyond the UK and Ireland is the only way to grow the business. It’s the very lifeblood of our company. This means spending time at shows and visiting both existing and potential customers on a regular basis.

We can never forget that we are operating in a fiercely competitive business sector. You can never rest on your laurels in the fishing industry. And we need to be able to supply prawns and other products when customers want them and at prices they will pay,” he adds.

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