Fish landings in Scotland in April 2025.
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 2025. The Scottish ones are set out below. The landings are by all UK and foreign vessels.
2. Overall, there were only small changes in Scotland compared with April 2024. The tonnage landed was down -5% to 20,763 but the value was up very slightly to just under £31.6 million.
3. That is a little worse than the UK totals, which were a +1% increase in value but a -1% fall in tonnage. Scotland accounted for 62% of the UK value and 74% of the tonnage of fish landed.
4. Five of the nine Scottish ports/districts recorded increases in value and 4 decreases. Seven recorded increases in tonnage and only 2 decreases. The biggest value increases were in Lerwick (+61%) and Scalloway (+54%). The biggest decline was in Scrabster (-29%). The biggest tonnage increases were in Other Scotland (a massive +180%), Scalloway (+62%) and Lerwick (+59%).
5. I don’t know why there was such a massive +180% rise in the tonnage at the Other Scotland harbours and have asked MMO why.
6. April was obviously a good month for the Shetland fishing industry.
7. The value per tonne of fish landed averaged £1,520, which was +6% higher than in April 2024. However, that average was -16% lower than the UK average of £1,815.
8. Peterhead is by far the busiest fishing port in the UK, accounting for a massive 29% of the total Scottish value and 18% of the total UK value in April. The tonnage shares were 37% of the Scottish total and 27% of the UK. However, it was a disappointing month for Peterhead because was a massive -46% fall in the tonnage compared with April 2024 and a -10% fall in the value.
9. Lerwick had the second highest value of landings, with a huge +61% increase and a +59% rise in the tonnage.
10. It was clearly a very good month for the Shetland fishing industry because Scalloway also recorded a +54% increase in value and +62% in tonnage.
11. Ullapool and Fraserburgh also had a good month.
12. In contrast, Scrabster had another bad month, with a -29% fall in the value of landings. The fishing industry there seems to be in a long term decline.
13. I shall write a more detailed report on the 2024 annual totals when MMO publish the annual statistics. That will include the statistics for the harbours/districts which make up the “Other Scotland” category.