Sunday Herald

By Rob Edwards

21 November 2006

An executive of the seafood company planning to shed jobs in Scotland by shipping langoustines to Thailand for shelling is facing calls for his resignation from the international environmental agency in which he plays a leading role. Mike Parker, deputy chief executive of Young's Seafood, is a member of the board of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) . The council is an independent global organisation set up by envi ronmentalists to encourage a sustainable fishing industry.

Environmental groups and one trade union argue that there is a conflict of interest between Parker's involvement with the MSC and his company's decision to send langoustines on a climate-wrecking 12,000-mile round trip.

Parker, however, denies the charge, claiming that the decision will help sustain the Scottish fishing industry. He has been robustly defended by Young's chief executive, Wynne Griffiths .

Young's announced last Tuesday that 120 jobs would be cut at its plant in Annan, Dumfries and Galloway, where Scottish-caught langou stines are mech anically shelled. Instead the large shellfish will be sent to Thailand to be shelled by hand, their meat returned to Annan for making into breaded scampi.

The decision prompted a storm of protest and was ridiculed as the "environmental madness of globalisation". Yesterday it was reported that customers were threatening to punish Young's by boycotting its products. Now, with the revelation of Parker's links to the MSC, the argument has escalated.

"It stinks," said John Holroyd, regional organiser for the Transport and General Workers' Union. "It just smacks of hypocrisy. He should consider his position, and the MSC ought to question why he is acting with double standards."

Friends of the Earth Scotland pointed out that shipping langoustine half-way around the world and back could not be called sustainable. "A business executive who tries to excuse such an inexcusable decision would not seem to me to be well placed to help the MSC judge what is sustainable seafood," said the group's chief executive, Duncan McLaren.

The MSC was founded in 1997 by the international environmental organisation WWF and the corporate food giant Unilever. It certifies fisheries as sustainable and has awarded its distinctive blue "eco-label" to nearly 450 seafood products in more than 25 countries.

"Young's has been a major force in driving the industry towards higher standards of sustainability," said Dr Richard Dixon, director of WWF Scotland. "We are therefore disappointed that Young's is proposing to let bare financial considerations outweigh the environmental and social issues . This sits uneasily with the company's support for the MSC."

Parker defended his position, pointing out that the MSC focused on the sustainability of fisheries, to which Young's was very committed. The criticisms showed "a lack of understanding of exactly what I do and how the MSC works", he said.

The environmental impact of the shipments has been exaggerated, he argued. Two ships a month would carry between 400 and 600 tonnes of scampi a year to Thailand, emitting 200 tonnes of carbon annually.

"I can't argue that sending food around the world is carbon-neutral", he said, "but I'd strongly argue in favour of my company's position and my position in promoting sustainability."

Parker was backed by Griffiths . "No-one has done more to promote sustainable fisheries than Mike Parker," he said. "We have an environmentally-friendly policy in all we do."