Nine fishmongers, including five independent fishmongers from the Republic of Ireland achieved their prestigious Master Fishmonger Standard in 2025.  

The MFS Awards and lunch for 2025, were held at the magnificent Fishmongers Hall in London. And, for the first time they were held together with the National Federation of Fishmongers, where President Sue Mackenzie announced the winner of the National Fishmonger of the Year 2025 – which went to Rockpool Fishmongers. Congratulations to everyone who achieved these prestigious awards in 2025.

The candidates from ROI were nominated through Bord Iascaigh Mhara’s (BIM’s) Seafood Academy, a dedicated national forum established in July 2025 to support and elevate independent fishmongers. The Academy aims to strengthen business development, enhance commercial sustainability, and ensure long-term financial viability within Ireland’s seafood retail sector.

These seven fishmongers who achieved the Master Tier of the MFS are:

• Liam Burke, Billy Burke Fish and Poultry, Waterford
• John Cleary, Keohane Seafoods, Cork
• Stephane Griesbach, Gannet Seafoods, Galway
• Daniel Hayes, Wrights of Howth, Co. Dublin
• Tiago Urbano, from The Fish Shop/Passionate about Fish
• Julia Noone, Swannage Bay Fish
• Kevin Todd, Ashton Fishmongers
• Mitch Tonks, Rockfish

In addition to the above, Alan Mitchell, of Al’s Fish Shop, Portarlington, Co. Laois was awarded Advanced Fishmonger.

To earn this distinguished accolade, each fishmonger had to demonstrate excellence across a rigorous set of competencies, including advanced knife skills, product expertise, responsible sourcing, sustainability practices, and outstanding customer service. In addition the top-tier certification recognises exceptional skill, knowledge, and commitment within the within the fishmonger trade.

Speaking at the official awards ceremony at Fishmongers’ Hall, London, BIM’s head of Business Intelligence, Paul Ward said:

“This is a landmark day for Ireland’s independent fishmongers, celebrating the expertise and dedication of local fishmongers and reinforcing the importance of high professional standards in delivering quality seafood to consumers.”

“These professionals represent the very best of the industry – the skill, the passion, and the dedication required to deliver top-quality seafood to Irish consumers every day.”

Mr Ward said today’s recognition signals a bright future for Ireland’s seafood retailers, setting a new benchmark of excellence and celebrating the people who keep Ireland’s coastal and culinary traditions thriving.

Tiago Urbano, Head Fishmonger & Manager, The Fish Shop, Camberley:

“I’m proud to be recognised as a Master Fishmonger. This award reflects years of hard work, dedication, and a passion for fishmongery. It’s an honour to stand alongside others who share the same commitment to keeping traditional skills alive and passing them on to the next generation”

Chris Parker, Wales Seafood Cluster Manager:

‘As an assessor for The Master Fishmonger Standard, I find it incredibly rewarding to witness first-hand how this program promotes exceptional knowledge, craftsmanship, and high standards in the industry. Congratulations to our recent candidates—your awards are well-deserved!’

Day 1

What a fantastic start to my seafood Jersey trip! A massive thanks to the Fishmongers’ Company, the Master Fishmonger Standard, the Fish Heroes’ scheme, and the Jersey fisheries officials for organising everything and inviting me along.

Today we visited the wonderful Jersey Oyster company, a 3rd generation family of Oyster producers with a state of the art facility on the island, and a passionate team that tends to the oysters from seed to harvest, with excellent quality control standards, and pristine waters to nurture these wonderful shellfish in. Due to the geography of Jersey, with no lakes or rivers, this produces a truly unique flavour of oyster, which is truly distinguishable and provides a delicious taste and high meat content.

It was fascinating to learn and see the entire process from beginning to end and get a better understanding of how technical it is. From the importance of water quality, state of the art depuration and the way the oysters are carefully arranged in their beds and moved to different areas of the shore to produce consistent sizes, shapes, and high meat to shell ratios for market.

After visiting the immaculate, purpose-built facility and neatly arranged holding beds, we headed to Jersey’s Seymour Tower. This idyllic tower was constructed in 1782, following the battle of Jersey, and is almost 2 miles from the shore. With the tides retreated, the landscape looks almost alien/other worldly, and provided a stunning location for a shucking and cooking demonstration for these stunning oysters. I had the pleasure of shucking these prized shellfish, while the highly talented chef Katie Prigg, prepared a selection of accompaniments to serve with them, 2 cold recipes and a wonderful flavoured butter to serve with the oysters on the BBQ, and of course, with produce as good as this, there was plenty of the ‘purist’ combination (as is or with lemon). They were all to die for, and needless to as,y we nearly ate up 2 boxes in no time, and I may or may not have accidentally eaten around a dozen to myself during the shucking too.

On the trip back to the next set of beds, we got one of the vehicle stuck in the sand and had to get one of the tractors to tow it out after failing to dig and push it out by hand🪏, just in the nick of time as the tide had turned and was coming back at pace. We ventured further out to sea to witness the skilled team from JO, hand-turning the oysters, which helps make sure they grow to a consistent shape and size, before heading back to the shore, navigating the many rocks to get back to the slipway.

It’s reassuring to see the UK’s world leading aquaculture standards in person, and highlights/cements why we have such unbeatable quality fish & shellfish, that is the envy of the rest of the world. I’m certainly very proud to be able to work with and eat such great produce from across the nation.

Day 2

A jam packed Day 2 of our Jersey trip started off meeting up with Alex Plaster from Jersey fisheries, he took us down to St Heliers Victoria pier, to visit a fantastic independent fishmongers called The Fresh Fish co, we met up with the team there, who gave us a quick tour and talk through their operation, before skilled fishmonger Louis, gave us an exceptional Spider Crab picking masterclass. We discussed the fact that Spider Crabs are such a great value, an underutilised species, with lots of succulent meat in the carapace, legs, that they are often 30 %+ cheaper than a Brown Crab, and why more people should be eating them. As an invasive species, they are seen as a pest, but that shouldn’t mean we don’t want them on our plates.

We had the talented Katie Prigg, an award-winning young chef from the renowned Goring hotel in London, gave us a brilliant demonstration on splitting a cooked Lobster, which our 1st class videographer captured.

We then headed into the Aqua-mar facility further down the key, a major shellfish merchant on the Island. Their holding tanks were full with lots of high quality Crabs, both Brown & spider and lots of wonderful Lobsters too.
Alex then talked us through the sustainability of each species, highlighting the MSC status of the Lobster fishery, the life cycles and the measures in place to protect future fishing stocks on the island. Alex is clearly exceptionally passionate about his role, and certainly knows his stuff, with everywhere we went, there was always someone who recognised him, and collared him for a chat or shout some banter over, he has certainly gone above and beyond making this trip as rewarding as possible for all involved, that’s for sure.

Afterwards, we packed up our gear and got back in the Land Rovers and headed towards the iconic St Catherines harbour, the drive along the coastline was beautiful, and on such a clear sunny day we could easily see the French coast and all of Jerseys wonderful scenery, there are definitely jersey Royals on every patch of spare land you can see, with good reason too, they are like white gold.

Once we arrived at St Catherine’s harbour, we met up with a local fisherman who fishes for Lobsters, Crabs and a very, very skilled Scallop Diver. We steamed out of the harbour aboard the Loyal Friend to one of his favourite diving spots to begin fishing.

Speaking to Leo from Scholefield Scallops was awe-inspiring, and definitely reassuring to learn about his true passion for being a sustainable custodian of the sea. He was fiercely keen to emphasise that he is fishing for the future of both his family and others too, safeguarding the stocks for future generations, so they can continue to thrive and provide healthy, high-quality food for many, many years to come.

Seafood Grimsby and Humber hosted a celebration for their successful Future Leaders Programme with a special BBQ event at Healing Manor Hotel, Grimsby, recently. The event brought together Future Leader participants, industry delivery partners, and key stakeholders to recognise and celebrate the achievements of the programme during the past year.

The Future Leaders Programme, an initiative aimed at nurturing the next generation of leaders within the seafood processing and trading industry, has successfully concluded its latest cohort. The programme has now provided over 60 participants with comprehensive training, mentorship, and hands-on experience to develop their leadership skills and seafood industry knowledge.

“We are incredibly proud of the accomplishments of our Future Leaders Programme participants,” said Skills sub-Board Chairperson, Emma de Beer, representing Seafood Grimsby and Humber. “This BBQ event is our way of celebrating their hard work and dedication, and also thanking our industry delivery partners who have been instrumental in making this programme a success.”

The BBQ celebration featured a talk from Eleanor Adamson representing the The Fishmongers’​ Company about the Company’s activities in skills, schools education and research. Also, the attendees heard from the Alliance’s own Schools Ambassador, Joanne Woodhouse, about opportunities to engage with local schools including, leadership roles in Governance as well as, Julie Waites who manages the Master Fishmonger Standard on behalf of the Alliance.

Emma De Beer went on to say “The support and collaboration from our industry delivery partners has been vital to the success of the Future Leaders Programme. We extend our heartfelt thanks to all our partners for their commitment to developing future leaders and contributing to the growth and sustainability of the seafood industry.”

The next three Future Leaders programmes will be delivered twice in September 2024 and then in January 2025. For further information contact Andrew Couper – acouper@lincoln.ac.uk

The Master Fishmonger Standard (MFS) was developed by The Fishmongers’ Company, to celebrate skilled craftmanship, quality seafood, and responsible and sustainable practices. Becoming certified helps showcase traditional craft skills and commitment to the trade. It recognises achievement across all levels and different disciplines and is composed of five tiers – MFS Recognised Fishmonger, MFS Advanced Fishmonger, MFS Master Fishmonger, MFS Companion Fishmonger, and MFS Craft Fishmonger.

Seafood Grimsby & Humber (SGHA) are the newly appointed custodians of the standard. SGHA Chairperson, Simon Smith, remarked “We’re honoured to take over this responsibility from The Fishmongers’ Company. Julie Waites is part of the SGHA team and is well placed to uphold and help govern the scheme’s standards and foster fellowship among members for the greater good of the industry.  Having worked in the seafood industry for 27 years, Julie is well networked across the seafood industry and has a reliable work ethic. The standard will be in good hands to ensure that the certification is accessible for the fishmongers in the UK, and is relevant, both now and for the future.

Seafood Grimsby & Humber Alliance wants to ensure that all small independent retailers, as well as large suppliers and mobile operators, utilise the benefits of being part of the MFS.

Chairman of the Fishmongers’ Company’s Fisheries Charitable Trust, Nigel Bankes commented: “We established the Master Fishmonger Standard to recognise all those who excel in our historical namesake trade, and we are very pleased to see it moving forwards in safe hands at the heart of the UK’s modern day seafood trade in Grimsby.”

Fishmongers’ Company Prime Warden, Fred Stroyan commented “Those who achieve MFS certification in what is a demanding and highly skilled profession represent the future of our industry, and I am encouraged that a fresh MFS presence in Grimsby will recognise and build skills among the core of the fish trade, from large processors to independent operators.”

Four new recipients of the MASTER FISHMONGER STANDARD (MFS) were congratulated this month, as they completed their assessments to recognise their skills in the fishmongering trade. These marked the first candidates to pass since Seafood Grimsby & Humber Alliance became the new custodians for the scheme.

 The Fishmongers’ Company’s Charities Communication Manager, Gavin O’Donnell, congratulated the recent accredited MFS candidates: ‘To be recognised by the MFS, a candidate has to not only demonstrate excellent knife skills but also knowledge of species, sustainability, and customer communication, a huge congratulations to our candidates for showing such commitment and passing the vigorous assessments, truly deserved’

Sue Mackenzie, owner of The Fish Shop; Passionate about Fish Ltd, and CJ Jackson from Billingsgate Seafood School received their accreditation for the Master Tier of the Master Fishmonger Standard. Alan Brinck; a fishmonger for Waitrose and Joe Hembrough from The Menai Seafood Company, achieved the Recognised Tier of the Master Fishmonger Standard.

On receiving notification of his Award, Alan said ‘I am pleased to be accepted as an MFS Recognised Fishmonger and look forward to engaging with everyone in the future’.

Chris Parker, Wales Seafood Cluster Manager, said: ‘As an assessor for The Master Fishmonger Standard, I find it incredibly rewarding to witness first-hand how this program promotes exceptional knowledge, craftsmanship, and high standards in the industry. Congratulations to our recent candidates—your awards are well-deserved!’

Passionate about fish and the environment, while upholding the heritage and craftmanship of the fishmonger trade, the Master Fishmonger Standard celebrates professional excellence by certifying fishmongers with extensive professional skills and knowledge.

The MFS was developed by The Fishmongers’ Company in 2018 and is supported by a number of influential members of the fish trade, not least the National Federation of Fishmongers. As an ancient Guild, The Fishmongers’ Company has a historic interest in helping to preserve and commend the fishmonger trade and support those who have adapted to a progressive industry.

Keen to encourage career progression and foster career-long working relationships, the MFS recognises achievement for both new and highly experienced fishmongers through five certification tiers. The ultimate accolade for working fishmongers is the MFS Master Fishmonger tier, whilst the MFS Companion recognises and rewards outstanding lifetime achievements in the fishmonger trade.

The MFS aims to bring to life the craftmanship of fishmongers by communicating rich and authentic stories and, in doing so, hopes to empower consumers to strive towards and seek out excellence.