The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) has been working with all UK Fishing Administrations to help industry prepare and be compliant from today. This includes extensive support provided through the Fish, Trace, Ship campaign, aimed at ensuring fishermen, processors, exporters and transporters understand the new legal requirements and can continue to export products without disruption.
This support has been shaped directly by industry feedback and remains available after the transition. It includes step by step videos covering Catch Certificates, Processing Statements, Non-Manipulation Documents and CSV uploads. There are also FAQs, guidance on new information fields required within the Fish Export Service system and template label examples to support all stages in the supply chain.
Nicholas Greenwood, MMO’s Head of Marine Protection and Operations Services, said:
Today marks the UK deadline for new information to be provided by exporters to improve traceability, combat IUU fishing, and maintain trade flows with the EU and beyond. We are confident that our seafood and export industry is as ready as possible. Businesses across the supply chain have worked hard to prepare, and we recognise the significant effort that has gone into meeting these new requirements.
MMO teams remain on hand to support exporters, processors, transporters and fishers as they adjust to the new requirements. Compliance is essential, exports without the correct documentation risk delays, but we remain committed to helping industry to keep UK exports moving.
For more information, visit the Fish, Trace, Ship campaign site: Fish, Trace, Ship - Act Now! Are you on board?
Additional information
The Fish Export Service will be updated on 8 January 2026 to comply with new EU IUU regulations. The changes are required to meet updated export requirements. The Service will be unavailable from 5pm for a period of time.
MMO, supported by the UKFMC, will be providing extended hours of support from the evening of 8 January. In addition to the usual FES helpline times (8am to 6pm Monday to Friday), an extended out of hours helpline service will operate to provide 24/7 advice and support. The UK SLO will also operate extended hours from 6am to 10pm Monday to Friday, and 9am to 5pm Saturday and Sunday. Please note that manual overrides will only be available 8am to 6pm. Where UK export consignments are held by an import authority subject to a formal verification request, these can only be resolved when both UK SLO and importing SLO are operating.