FISH LANDINGS IN SCOTLAND IN AUGUST 2025

Fish landings in Scotland in August 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 August 2025. The Scottish ones are set out below. The landings are by all
UK and foreign vessels.
2. Overall, the value of fish landings in Scotland was just under £52 million, which was very similar with August 2024, although there was a +5% rise in tonnage to 45,104.
3. That was better the UK totals, which were a -5% fall in value and a -3% fall in tonnage. Scotland accounted for 73% of the UK value and 85% of the tonnage of fish landed.
4. The value per tonne of fish landed in Scotland fell by -4.9% to £1,149 from £1,208 a year ago. The value was -14% lower than the UK average.
5. Five of the nine Scottish ports/districts recorded increases in value and 4 falls. Five also recorded rises in tonnage and 4 declines. The biggest value increases were in Ullapool (+125%), Peterhead (+21%) and Scrabster (+16%). The worst declines were in Kinlochbervie (-55%) and Cullivoe (-37%). The biggest tonnage increases were in Ullapool (+130%) and Scalloway (+24%); and the declines also in Kinlochbervie (-44%) and Cullivoe (-36%).

6. Peterhead is by far the busiest fishing port in the UK, accounting for a massive 48% of the total Scottish value and 35% of the total UK value in August. The tonnage shares were 59% of the
Scottish total and 50% of the UK. The port had an excellent August, with +21% increase in the value and +18% in the tonnage. Those rises had big impacts on the Scottish totals.
7. Ullapool had by far the best month in Scotland, with huge +125% increases in the value of landings and +130% in tonnage.
8. Fraserburgh is the second busiest fishing harbour in Scotland and also had a good month, with the value of landings +11% higher and the tonnage +16%.
9. It was also a good month for Scrabster, which had experienced a significant decline in fish landings so far this year. The August £2.3 million value of landings was +16% higher than in 2024, although the tonnage was -5% lower.
10. In contrast, it was a very disappointing month for Lerwick, where the value of landings was down -17% to just under £9.6 million and the tonnage down -18% to 11,068.
11. The other Shetland ports had a mixed month: landings were up in Scalloway but down in Cullivoe.
12. Kinlochbervie has the worst month in Scotland, with a massive -55% fall in value and -44% in tonnage.
13. The “Other Scotland” harbours and ports reported a -24% fall in value to £9.3 million, despite a +17% rise in tonnage to 3,669. I hope to publish some statistics soon on the various harbours which comprise “Other Scotland” when MMO make those available. 14. I have added the monthly statistics for the first 6 months of 2025 from January to June. The overall
total values of the fish landings for each port/harbour are:

15. The total value of fish landings in the 6 months January to June was just over £261 million, which was +6.8% higher than in the same period of 2024.
16. The rankings of the % changes are:

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