Seafood industry casts its net for young workers in Wales

David Parker, a marine biologist from Wales, has been chosen as an ambassador to support a new campaign launched by Seafish, the industry authority on seafood, designed to showcase career prospects in the seafood industry.

Featuring real people sharing their career stories, ‘The World is Your Oyster’ campaign will capture the imagination of young people aged between 16 and 24 currently trying to secure their first step on the career ladder.

David, 28, works for Young’s Seafood, a British producer and distributor of frozen, fresh, and chilled seafood supplying approximately 40% of all the fish eaten in the United Kingdom every year.

Through his work, David has been able to travel and meet people who share his aspirations for a more sustainable future.  He explains:

“Working in the seafood industry provides fantastic opportunities and I’ve been lucky enough to travel and see some fantastic places, well off the beaten track from Iceland to Vietnam, to Madagascar. On my travels I’ve met some highly passionate, driven and professional people trying to drive change and make a real difference in creating a sustainable future for our marine resources.

“Fortunately I’ll never tire of eating great seafood and seeing amazing parts of the world, however the real satisfaction in the job is the chance that it gives me to help to ensure a sustainable use of our marine resources socially, environmentally and economically into the future.”

According to Seafish, young people could be attracted in to the industry by highlighting some of the unique perks and qualifications linked to these careers such as the potential to travel the world promoting seafood or learning survival skills whilst working on a fishing vessel.

With an aging workforce, the seafood industry is looking to reinvigorate the talent pool by providing a more holistic picture of all that the sector has to offer young people looking to get in to a rewarding career path. Seafish also highlight the seafood industry’s competitive wages, the variety of roles, apprenticeship and training options where people can ‘learn as you earn’ and quick career progression.

Through engaging case studies and a film, the stories of several vibrant and aspirational young people, forging successful careers in the seafood industry have been brought to life on the Seafish website.

*Watch ‘The World is Your Oyster’ seafood careers film*

As well as promoting the campaign through schools, career advisors and recruitment consultants, Seafish is also encouraging industry ambassadors to share their own career highlights on Twitter.

Simon Potten, Head of Safety and Training at Seafish, said: “The seafood industry is a vibrant place to be right now with more choice of diverse and interesting careers than ever before.

“I believe young people will be drawn by the competitive salaries on offer, the interesting, diverse and challenging range of work to be found, the strong sense of community within the industry and the opportunity to travel. Seafood is a global industry and whether you are leaving school, college or university, I urge you to take a look and see what the seafood industry has to offer.

“We are calling on members of the seafood industry to back our campaign and get involved on social media. Let’s work together to let young people know they will be warmly welcomed into our industry.”

As well as launching the new campaign, Seafish is working with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) to develop new Trailblazer Apprenticeships for the seafood industry.