Fish quality assessment training delivered in Peterhead
For more than 400 years there has been a port in Peterhead which has played a vital role within the town.
The port is currently held, managed, maintained and developed by the Peterhead Port Authority (PPA) who, in December 2024, decided to introduce an electronic auction in place of a traditional shout auction at Peterhead Fish Market, located within the port.
Having top quality fish available to buy on a fish market is vital to its ongoing success and training fish market staff in fish quality assessment helps to ensure that electronic auction data is accurate and trusted.
This in turn supports fair pricing, reduces disputes and sustains buyer confidence in the fish market.
Read about how Peterhead Port Authority has engaged with a fish quality assessment training programme to support an imminent new electronic auction.
Taking the first steps
In early April 2025, Marshall Birnie of PPA discussed its needs with our Onshore Training Advisor, Richard Wardell, and Jess Sparks, our Industry Engagement Manager for Scotland.
Marshall outlined the plans for the move towards a new auction system and the requirement for PPA staff to complete some fish quality assessment training.
By late April 2025, Marshall and Richard had spoken to one of our approved trainers and fish quality assessment expert, Adrian Barratt.
The aim for Adrian was to deliver one of our training programmes in September and October and as an independent consultant he would develop a fish grading scheme that could be used by PPA staff whilst working on Peterhead Fish Market.
Everything was going to plan until mid-June when Adrian was unfortunately involved in a serious accident which resulted in him being unable to commit time to his work for several months.
Despite this setback, plans were taking place and in early September PPA announced Marshall as its new Fishing Business Unit Manager. This role was to focus on the electronic auction and the traditional management of the fish market.
In the lead up to the implementation of the e-auction within the fish market, we are planning a number of changes to position ourselves in the best way possible to make the e-auction a success both for ourselves and our stakeholders. As a first step, Marshall Birnie has been appointed to the role of Fishing Business Unit Manager, and I’d like to congratulate him on the appointment.
By late September, Adrian was making a good recovery. With his health improving, Marshall, Adrian and Richard participated in a video call in October.
At this meeting, training dates were identified which were convenient to both PPA and Adrian. It was agreed that two training courses were to be delivered during the first week of December.
Delivery of the training
The first training course was delivered on December 1st and 2nd to nine PPA staff and a second training course was attended by another nine PPA staff including Marshall on December 4th and 5th .
Both training courses followed the same format and were delivered at Peterhead Fish Market.
On the morning of day one, Adrian delivered a theory module highlighting the mechanisms of spoilage, methods of assessing fish quality, the Torry and Quality Index Method (QIM) assessment schemes and a Quality Grading Scheme for Peterhead Fish Market devised by Adrian and agreed with Marshall.
The afternoon of day one and all of day two consisted of practical training which allowed the learners to assess the fish quality of various species including Cod, Haddock, Hake, Plaice, Coley and Witch. This included looking at the appearance of the eyes, smelling the gills and touching the skin.
Both groups were engaged in the training and wanted to learn more. The learners very much enjoyed the practical training. I’m confident that they will put into practice their new skills and knowledge when the electronic auction goes live.
Examination and certification
Following the training delivery, each trainee completed an online open book test which consisted of 20 questions.
These were marked by one of our approved examiners and a Seafish certification was issued to each learner.
The training delivered by Adrian was excellent, he kept everyone’s interest. I was extremely satisfied with both the topic relevance and the overall content. Going forward with the electronic auction, it will be very useful for me and my colleagues.
Further information
You can find out more about the progress of the electronic auction at Peterhead Port Authority Latest News.
If you or your colleagues would like to find out more about our Fish Quality Assessment training, or any of our other training courses, please email our Onshore Training team at onshore@seafish.co.uk .