FISH LANDINGS IN SCOTLAND IN APRIL 2024

Fish landings in Scotland in April 2024.

A note by Tony Mackay, Economist
tony@tonymackay.co.uk

1. The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) have just published their monthly fish landings statistics for the UK for April 2024. The Scottish ones are set out below. The landings are by all UK
and foreign vessels.
2. Overall, there was a -4% fall in the value of fish landings in Scotland to just under £29 million, compared with April 2023, but a +3% increase in tonnage to 21,427.
3. That is much better than the UK totals, which were a -9% decline in value and a -2% fall in tonnage. Scotland accounted for 62.5% of the UK value and 77.6% of the tonnage of fish landed.
4. Three of the nine Scottish ports/districts recorded increases in value and 6 declines. The tonnage breakdown was the same. The value increases were in Peterhead (+26%), Fraserburgh (+31%) and Lerwick (+36%). The biggest declines were in Scalloway (-55%), Cullivoe (-50%) and Ullapool (- 40%). The tonnage increases were in Peterhead (+23%), Fraserburgh (+40%) and Lerwick (+19%).
5. The value per tonne of fish landed fell by -8% to £1324 from £1446 a year ago. There were huge variations by port/district, ranging from £2964 in Cullivoe to just £714 in Peterhead.
6. Peterhead is by far the busiest fishing port in the UK, accounting for a massive 35% of the total Scottish value and 22% of the total UK value in April. The tonnage shares were 66% of the Scottish total and 51% of the UK. April was a good month for Peterhead.
7. Ullapool was the second highest value port, followed by Fraserburgh and Lerwick.
8. I shall write a more detailed report on the 2023 annual totals when MMO publish the annual statistics. That will include the statistics for the ports/districts which make up the “Other Scotland”
category.