BBC News 18 January 2021
Fishing businesses hit by post-Brexit export problems have demonstrated outside various government departments in Westminster.
Exports of fresh fish and seafood have been severely disrupted by new border controls since the UK's transition period ended earlier this month.
The prime minister has promised compensation for affected firms.
Industry associations have complained that extra paperwork has made it difficult to deliver fresh produce to mainland Europe before it goes off.
On Sunday, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said ministers were working with the sector to resolve "teething problems" faced by exporters.
Mark Moore, manager of the Dartmouth Crab Company, said his business and others were protesting to "raise awareness" of the impact of new border checks.
He told BBC Radio Five Live his company had faced delays of up to eight and a half hours when delivering produce into the European Union.
He added that the situation was "especially difficult" for the shellfish sector, where goods were at risk of going off before reaching customers.
"It's not about the increased documentation per se," he said.
"We have taken that on board, and we ourselves - and I know many others - have had no issues with producing the actual paperwork."
"It's the volume required and the timeframe in which to produce it, which doesn't lend itself to live shellfish and fish generally."
At the scene
John McManus, BBC News
There are 24 lorries here in total, overwhelmingly from Seafood exporters in Scotland. Businesses taking part say the Brexit trade deal has left their industry high and dry.
And although one haulier from Aberdeenshire I spoke to was keen to stress that their coordinated protest was peaceful, it is clear that they all feel that direct action is now necessary to make the government sit up and take notice.
Good natured though their action was, it did for a time cause serious traffic congestion along Whitehall and Parliament Square.
However, low levels of traffic perhaps caused by the Covid lockdown meant the roads around Whitehall didn't grind to a complete halt.
At stake, they believe, is an industry, but also thousands of livelihoods. Exporters say they are backed by fishermen who are struggling to land their catches.
And although the rural Scottish communities which are sustained by fishing might seem like a long way from the streets of SW1, the hauliers certainly made their presence felt this morning.
Having left the European Customs Union, UK exports are subject to new customs and veterinary checks which have caused problems at the border.
Some Scottish fishermen have been landing their catch in Denmark to avoid the "bureaucratic system" involved in exporting to Europe, according to Scotland's rural economy secretary.
Boris Johnson last week told a committee of MPs that fishing firms impacted by disruption would be compensated for "temporary frustrations".
However the government is yet to provide details of this, prompting accusations of a "U-turn" from Labour.
The BBC has been told that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) did not know about the promise of compensation before it was made by Mr Johnson.
