Comment on Highlands population trends. Highland Council has warned that parts of the region are being “drained” of people.
Trade body Salmon Scotland is calling for £10 million-a-year in licence fees paid to Crown Estate Scotland to be reinvested in affordable housing to tackle the growing property crisis in rural communities.
Scottish salmon adds more than £220 million a year to the north west Highlands’ economy, directly supporting around 1,000 local jobs and hundreds of suppliers in the region.
Tavish Scott, chief executive of Salmon Scotland, said:
“The Scottish salmon sector employs thousands of people in our most fragile coastal communities. The well-paid, year-round jobs we provide are the lifeblood of Highland and island communities. If we were to disappear, so would the jobs, the local schools, the shops, everything that makes island life liveable. One of the greatest risks to this way of life is the lack of affordable housing, which is why we’ve been calling on the Scottish Government to ringfence around £10 million of the rent which Crown Estate Scotland receives from salmon farmers to provide housing that enables local working age people to live and work in the town and villages they grew up in.”
Fresh Scottish salmon accounts for more than £500 million worth of fish sales across the UK retail market annually. This represents 48 per cent of the overall UK fish market, making it the most valuable single product in this category. The product is also the UK’s biggest and most valuable food export, exported to more than 50 countries annually.
The salmon sector adds more than £760 million to the economy every year. At the same time, it spends £370 million, supporting over 3,600 suppliers across Scotland. More than 2,500 people are directly employed in salmon farming throughout the country, with 10,000 jobs dependent on the sector.