FISH LANDINGS IN SCOTLAND IN APRIL 2026

Fish landings in Scotland in April 2026. 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 2026. The Scottish ones are set out below. The landings are by all UK
and foreign vessels.
2. It was another disappointing month for the Scottish fishing industry because there was a big -17% fall in the value of landings and -26% in the tonnage, compared with April 2026.
3. That was worse than the UK totals, which were a -11% fall in value despite a +4% rise in tonnage. Scotland accounted for 58% of the UK value and 52% of the tonnage of fish landed.
4. Only three of the nine Scottish ports/districts recorded increases in value and the other six had decreases. The increases were in Scrabster (+37%), Scalloway (+16%) and Peterhead (+8%). The
biggest declines were in Kirkcudbright (-62%) and Ullapool (-45%).
5. Three of the ports recorded increases in tonnage – Peterhead, Scrabster and Scalloway – and the other 6 falls.
6. The value per tonne of fish landed averaged £1,865, which was +11% higher than in April 2025. That average was also +11% higher than the UK average of £1,687.
7. There were huge variations in value in Scotland, from £3,140 per tonne in Other Scotland and£3,113 in Lerwick to £1,147 in Peterhead.
8. Peterhead is by far the busiest fishing port in the UK, accounting for a massive 35% of the total Scottish value and 20% of the total UK value in April. The tonnage shares were 57% of the Scottish total and 30% of the UK. It was a good month for Peterhead, with the value of landings up +8% to £10.4 million and the tonnage up +17% to 9,048. The average value per tonne was £1,147, which was -28% lower than the Scottish average.
9. Lerwick had the second highest value of landings, with just under £3.4 million. However, that was down -5% on 2025 and the tonnage was down -16%.
10. Fraserburgh had the third highest value of landings, with just under £2.2 million. That was down -35% on 2025 and the tonnage was down -11%. The value per tonne was £2,214.
11. Ullapool ranked 4th by value with £1.8 million, but that was -45% lower than in the same month of last year and the tonnage was down -54%. Another very bad month for the harbour.
12. Scrabster ranked 5th with just under £1.7 million, which was +37% higher than in April 2025. That was by far the biggest % increase in the country. The tonnage was up by +12%. The average value was £2,363.
13. Kinlochbervie ranked 6th with £1.1 million, which was -33% lower than last year. The -58% tonnage fall was even worse.
14. Scalloway ranked 7th with £674,000 and Kirkcudbright 8th with just £83,000.
15. It was also a very bad month for the Other Scotland ports and harbours. Their combined value of landings was down -32% on 2025 and their tonnage down -66%.

First 4 months of 2026

16. I have added the value totals for the first 4 months of 2026. The Scottish total of £112 million is down -33% on the first quarter of 2025.

Image: ©Fish Focus