Seafish levy review
This page has information on:
Conclusion of the Seafish levy review
In July 2025, the Chair of the Seafish Board received a written response from the Minister of State on behalf of Seafish’s four government sponsors on proposals to change the rate and remit of the Seafish levy.
This letter advised that they unanimously concluded that this is not the right time to amend the Seafish levy. Within the response, the Minister noted that government bodies across the UK are taking steps to cut public spending and reduce burdens on industry, and that the proposals did not garner sufficient support from enough of the sector.
We remain committed to supporting a thriving UK seafood industry and our corporate plan outlines the clear steer we got from industry on the support you need from Seafish. The Seafish Board will consider how to best allocate our support for industry going forward in light of the governments’ decision.
The Seafish levy review process
The Seafish Board carried out a Strategic Review of Seafish in 2021 in collaboration with the four UK Government Administrations. This identified a need to review the remit and rate of the Seafish levy, which has not changed since 1999.
Following industry feedback, the Seafish Board undertook an informal ‘non-statutory’ consultation on proposed changes to the levy during March and April 2023. These proposed levy changes included increasing levy rates for existing species, applying an annual uplift, and including imported canned, bottled, and preserved products in the levy.
The Seafish Board then held a statutory consultation on proposed changes to the levy system. The consultation ran from 15 May 2024 until 9 August 2024. The Formal Consultation Paper (available in Welsh and English), the draft Regulation, and an Economic Impact Assessment can be downloaded below:
Following the formal consultation process the Seafish Board submitted the proposals to Government Ministers in late 2024.
Levy rates
The current sea fish levy rate of 0.903p/kg would be increased to 1p/kg. This levy would be renamed the "Category 1" levy. This would mean that for around 90% of species the levy rates would increase by 10%.
Pelagic species and cockles, mussels and whelks have always had a lower levy rate. To ensure levy rates are fair for all businesses these rates would increase. Levy rates for mussels, cockles, and pelagic fish (as defined in regulation) would increase from 0.258p/kg to 0.5p/kg over a three-year period, while levy rates for whelks would increase from 0.4515p/kg to 0.5p/kg. Collectively these rates would be known as the "Category 2" levy.
The levy rates for manufactured fishmeal and ‘fish destined for’ fishmeal would also increase, with manufactured fishmeal increasing from 0.175p/kg to 0.315p/kg and fish destined for fishmeal increasing from 0.0315p/kg to 0.05p/kg.
Levy products
Levy would be due on imported canned, bottled or pouched seafood products containing any levied species. This change was proposed to address the current inequity where products manufactured in the UK attract a levy on the raw material used, but equivalent imported products do not. Our services and products are available to UK businesses that manufacture and import these products, and this would make that access fairer.
Non-levy species
There was strong support to include other species in the levy. However, salmon, trout and other freshwater species were out of scope of the review because they are explicitly excluded under the Fisheries Act 1981.
Annual adjustment
The Board proposed that an annual adjustment would be implemented. This would be determined by reference to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) but capped at 2% per annum. Levy rates would be set at CPI if CPI is under 2%, but would be set at 2% if CPI was tracking above that cap.
The amended levy rate would be set each February, based on the average CPI for the previous 12 months up to the end of September, and would apply from 1 April of the same year.
This annual adjustment would apply each year, including to the staged increases for Category 2 species in Years 2 and 3.
Administration
The Board also proposed some administrative improvements in how the levy system operates and in how levy is collected. These changes included:
- Implementing a de minimis amount meaning if the levy due is less than £100 per year, a business will be exempt from paying. We estimate that 22% of current levy payers would benefit from this change and will no longer need to pay levy. The purpose of this change is to reduce the payment and reporting burden for those businesses that incur a small levy charge annually, and to make it more efficient to administer the levy system.
- Requiring levy payers to provide information on the species on which the levy is due, and the origin of the species – domestic or imported including country of origin. The purpose of this change is to ensure that there is accurate and accessible information available to allow Seafish to audit businesses to determine the levy that is due. A secondary benefit is that this information would provide further data to support the Economic and Trade analysis that Seafish produces to support business decision making and government policy. This information is not readily available elsewhere.
Benefits to the industry
An increase in levy would have meant that Seafish could continue to work to support the UK seafood industry and increase our support in the areas that businesses have told us are important.
This added support would have included:
- Dedicated on the ground fishing safety advisers to support the UK fishing fleet.
- Greater capability to support businesses to tackle labour issues, whether that is recruitment challenges or addressing welfare and ethical issues across the supply chain.
- More international trade shows, and additional resources to (1) assist businesses in overcoming trade barriers and (2) to produce trade analysis to support decision making.
- A fully funded dedicated fisheries management team that facilitates industry involvement in fisheries management decision making and provides the analysis and advice to support changes to be made.
- Additional expertise to help businesses across the supply chain to respond and adapt to the climate change emergency.
- Additional capacity to proactively support the industry to challenge misinformation on issues affecting industry reputation and in turn consumer demand.
- Greater ability to fund and progress research projects to address issues across the supply chain.
- Assisting seafood businesses to respond to emerging issues; geopolitical or economic events, environmental issues, or consumer issues that influence demand.
- Providing additional economic analysis expertise to respond to industry queries and policy changes.
- Expanding our Geographical Information System team to offer stakeholders a spatial analysis service to help with decision making and with engagement on how the marine environment is used, managed, and conserved.