FISH LANDINGS IN SCOTLAND IN MAY 2024

Fish landings in Scotland in May 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 May 2024. The Scottish ones are set out below. The landings are by all UK and foreign vessels.
2. Overall, there was a big -16% fall in the value of fish landings in Scotland to just under £27 million, compared with May 2023, and a -15% fall in tonnage to 11,925.
3. However, that is better than the UK totals, which were a -23% decline in value and a -14% fall in tonnage. Scotland accounted for 58.2% of the UK value and 58.3% of the tonnage of fish landed.
4. Seven of the nine Scottish ports/districts recorded falls in value and only 2 increases. Seven also recorded falls in tonnage and only 2 increases. The value increases were in Kinlochbervie (+61%) and Cullivoe (+36%). The biggest declines were in Ullapool (-40%) and Scrabster (-37%). The tonnage increases were also in Kinlochbervie (+91%) and Cullivoe (+26%).
5. The value per tonne of fish landed fell by -1.4% to £2,246 from £2,279 a year ago.
6. Peterhead is by far the busiest fishing port in the UK, accounting for a massive 30% of the total Scottish value and 18% of the total UK value in May. The tonnage shares were 38% of the Scottish total and 22% of the UK. However, the port had a -5% fall in the May value.
7. Lerwick was the second highest value port, followed by Scrabster, Fraserburgh and Kinlochbervie.
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 various ports/districts which make up the “Other Scotland” category.