Fish landings in Scotland in November 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 November 2024. The Scottish ones are set out below. The landings are by
all UK and foreign vessels.
2. Overall, there was a big -19% fall in the value of fish landings in Scotland to just under £51 million, compared with October 2023, and a -18% fall in tonnage to 32,967.
3. Those falls were similar with the UK totals, which were -19% declines in value and -20% in tonnage. Scotland accounted for 72% of the UK value and 78% of the tonnage of fish landed.
4. England ports accounted for 24% of the UK value total, Northern Ireland 3% and Wales 1%.
5. Only two of the nine Scottish ports/districts recorded increases in value and 7 decreases. The value increases were in Kinlochbervie (+25%) and Peterhead (+1%). The biggest declines were in Cullivoe (-74%), Ullapool (-63%) and Scalloway (-52%). The only tonnage increase was in Kinlochbervie (+22%).
6. The average value per tonne of fish landed was down by -1% to £1,536
7. Peterhead is by far the busiest fishing port in the UK, accounting for a massive 62% of the total Scottish value and 45% of the total UK value in November. The tonnage shares were 67% of the
Scottish total and 52% of the UK. The port had a +1% increase in the value but a -5% fall in the tonnage.
8. Lerwick was the second highest value port in November, but recorded huge -34% falls in value and -38% in tonnage.
9. The table below gives the 11 months’ totals from January to November 2024. The Scottish total value of £487.1 million was -1% lower than for the same period in 2023. The tonnage total of
330,355 was +6% higher.
10. Only three ports have had increases in the value so far in 2024: Kinlochbervie (+21%), Lerwick (+20%) and Peterhead (+16%) The others have had declines, the worst being Cullivoe (-39%) and
Ullapool (-33%).
11. Four ports have recorded increases in tonnage and five declines. Some of the tonnage changes have been surprising, notably the +9% rise in Fraserburgh, where the value is -4% lower.
12. Peterhead continues to dominate both the value and tonnage, accounting for 48% and 60% respectively of the Scottish totals.
13. I shall write a more detailed report on the 2023 and 2024 annual totals when MMO publish the annual statistics. That will include the statistics for each of the various ports/districts which make up the “Other Scotland” category.