Local businesses and their owners in Aberdeen face constant pressures, with different businesses having their own challenges depending on which industry they’re in. Lots of issues are experienced – from rising costs to problems with supply, life in the granite city isn’t always smooth sailing.

Neil Clark, owner of local fish merchants, DH Clark, in Torry, who has been in the industry for around fifty years, is one of many business owners suffering from these issues, Neil commented on this saying:

“The main issue at the moment is getting staff. Staffing is an issue and obviously the costs that now ensues with ever increasing national insurance – a colossal increase. It’s a huge burden on businesses that really isn’t seen.”

Alongside staffing, one of the other main pressures for Neil and his business is the regulations of the fish industry. Fish is one of few foods that is still naturally hunted, with most other foods being farmed. This causes stress among fish merchants in the UK and worldwide:

“The food we deal with, it’s very very low risk but the hoops we have to jump through are crazy.”

There are various steps fish merchants must complete to make a successful sale, some of which are hard to believe. Since Brexit, companies have had to ramp up the administration work to insurmountable levels. This has had a significant impact on DH Clark when exporting produce to customers. The company must produce a catch certificate after every hunt to validate their catches and ss they are not a big enough organisation to have their own truck, they also must adopt a group service, DFDS Transport. Neil explained the impact of Brexit in further detail:

“We have to produce these catch certificates, which is time consuming but also a cost. The fish must be inspected by a vet to create an expert health certificate for it to be safe to eat. We then must produce export documentation at a cost of £45 for every customer and an import documentation at a cost of £95.”

However, measures to make the process easier for companies, where paperwork will be streamlined to no longer require expert health certificates, are being put into place for 2027. This will ease the cost on businesses when exporting to Europe and further afield.

The war in the Middle East has not helped proceedings as DH Clark export next to nothing locally, resulting in extra transport costs. This is elevated even more with the food that DH Clark sell. They have to utilise specialised transport, as Neil commented on:

“We use EPS boxes, expanded polystyrene, which is made from oil, so with oil prices up, it has had an impact.”

Being responsible for everything on the business side of things, Neil also has to make small sacrifices, like most owners.

“Waking up at ridiculous hours in the morning. Not being able to really get away at all. It’s a small business, there’s nobody there.”

DH Clark do very well to stay competitive through the work of Neil and his eight other members of staff. When working in an industry that seems to be constantly undermined, this makes it even harder. The future may contain uncertainty but for adaptable business owners like Neil in Aberdeen, this will only make them more determined to keep their business and therefore, industries, alive.