GRIMSBY'S role in heightening exports of Norwegian fish to Britain was celebrated this week with two key visits.
GRIMSBY'S role in heightening exports of Norwegian fish to Britain was celebrated this week with two key visits.
And John Hancock, managing director of rapidly growing Carisma, treated 14 delegates from Innovation Norway to a two-day conference featuring industry leading speakers.
Both coincided with the release of figures showing the initial success of a major marketing campaign to increase Norwegian seafood supplies into the country.
They were up 16 per cent year-on-year.
Mr Hancock, working with Caistor-based Sealord and Aalesundfish in Norway, has recently introduced "super fresh haddock" to Waitrose, which is packed and shipped within a few hours of being caught.
And many of the contacts that enabled the uplift were forged in Grimsby, with a special conference at the Humber Seafood Institute in March.
Mr Dwyer, who along with academic seafood expert Mike Dillon and representatives from Young's, Seafish and Carisma spoke at Mr Hancock's event, said: "The conference in March went down very well. We got the sellers together with the buyers at the time and I know that the sellers have been back over since, and that the buyers have been over to Norway.
"The majority of that 16 per cent uplift would have come through Grimsby and been processed in Grimsby.
"The trade corridor had its fingerprints on it, and the conference was definitely worth while."
The Norwegian marketing campaign is going to be further boosted, with fish and chip shops and retail targeted. The UK is already the seventh largest export from more than 100 nations, but it wants to improve further the North Sea link.
Mr Hancock said: "It was a very successful couple of days. We all really enjoyed it and picked up a lot of contacts.
"The Waitrose supply is a fantastic one for Norway, for the retailer and for Carisma."
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