FISH LANDINGS IN SCOTLAND IN MARCH 2026

Fish landings in Scotland in March 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 March 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 -11% fall in the value of landings and -35% in the tonnage, compared with March 2026.
3. That was similar the UK totals, which were a -19% fall in value and -34% in tonnage. Scotland accounted for 57% of the UK value and 71% of the tonnage of fish landed.
4. Five of the nine Scottish ports/districts recorded increases in value and 4 decreases. The biggest increases were in Scrabster (+43%) and Kirkcudbright (+39%). The biggest declines were in the other Scotland ports (-48%) and Kinlochbervie (-40%). Peterhead had a good month with a +31%
increase in the value of landings.
5. Only two of the ports recorded increases in tonnage – Fraserburgh and Peterhead – and the other 7 falls.
6. The value per tonne of fish landed averaged £1,494, which was +36% higher than in March 2025. However, that average was -19% lower than the UK average of £1,849.
7. There were huge variations in value in Scotland, from £3,393 per tonne in Ullapool to £1,177 in Peterhead.8. Peterhead is by far the busiest fishing port in the UK, accounting for a massive 31% of the total Scottish value and 24% of the total UK value in March. The tonnage shares were 53% of the Scottish total and 38% of the UK. It was a good month for Peterhead, with the value of landings up +31% to just under £13 million and the tonnage up +6% to 11,000.
9. Fraserburgh had the second highest value of landings, with just under £2.7 million. That was +26% on 2025 and the tonnage was up 48%.
10. Lerwick had the third highest value of landings, with just under £2.6 million. That was up +11% on 2025 but the tonnage was down -14%. The value per tonne was £3,008.
11. Ullapool ranked 4th by value with £2.1 million, but that was -31% lower than in the same month of last year and the tonnage down -50%. A surprisingly bad month for the harbour.
12. Scrabster ranked 5th with just under £1.6 million, which was +43% higher than in March 2025, although the tonnage fell by -3%.
13. Kinlochbervie ranked 6th with £886,000, which was -40% lower than in March 2025. The -58% tonnage fall in was even worse. I don’t know why it was such a bad month there.
14. Scalloway ranked 7th with £564,000 and Kirkcudbright 8th with £265,000.
15. It was also a very bad month for the Other Scotland ports and harbours. Their combined value of landings was down a massive -48% on 2025 and their tonnage down -66%.

First 3 months of 2026

16. I have added the value of landings totals for the first 3 months of 2026. The Scottish total of £112 million is down -33% on the first quarter of 2025.
17. The quarterly totals for the various ports and harbours are:
Image: ©Fish Focus