FISH LANDINGS IN SCOTLAND IN NOVEMBER 2025

Fish landings in Scotland in November 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 November 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 £79.1 million, which was +11% higher than in November 2024. There was a -11% fall in tonnage to 36,274. A very good month, therefore, for the value.
3. That was a little better than the UK totals, which were a +9% increase in value and a -10% fall in tonnage. Scotland accounted for 76% of the UK value and 79% of the tonnage of fish landed.
4. The value per tonne of fish landed in Scotland rose by a massive +24% to £2,179 from £1,753 a year ago. The value was -3% lower than the UK average.
5. Only three of the nine Scottish ports/districts recorded increases in value and 6 falls. Only 3 recorded rises in tonnage and 6 declines.
6. The value increases were in Ullapool (+119%), Cullivoe (+70%) and Peterhead (+37%). The worst declines were in Other Scotland (-62%), Kinlochbervie (-37%) and Scrabster (-23%). The tonnage increases were in Ullapool (+169%), Cullivoe (+42%) and Fraserburgh (+4%); and the worst declines in Kinlochbervie (-44%) and Other Scotland (-34%).
7. Peterhead is by far the busiest fishing port in the UK, accounting for a massive 71% of the total Scottish value and 54% of the total UK value in November. The tonnage shares were 66% of the Scottish total and 52% of the UK. The port had an excellent November, with a + huge +37% fall in the value, despite a -10% fall in the tonnage. Those numbers had big impacts on the Scottish totals.
8. In contrast, it was a slightly disappointing month for Lerwick, where the value of landings was down -3% to £11.2 million and the tonnage down -9% to 6,445.
9. The other Shetland ports Scalloway and Cullivoe had mixed months, with big increases in the latter but falls in the former. However, they account for tiny shares of the Scottish totals.
10. Fraserburgh is the third busiest fishing harbour in Scotland and had a mixed month, with the value of landings -8% lower but the tonnage +4% higher.
11. It was another bad month for Scrabster, which has experienced a significant decline in fish landings so far this year. The November £2.6 million value of landings was -23% lower than in 2024, although the tonnage was just -2% lower.
12. In contrast, Ullapool had another excellent month, with a huge +119% increase in value, which was by far the biggest in the country. The tonnage was up even more by +169%.
13. Kinlochbervie had a bad month, with a -37% fall in value and -44% in tonnage.
14. The “Other Scotland” harbours and ports reported a huge -62% fall in value to £3.8 million and a -34% fall in tonnage to 2,184. I hope to publish some statistics soon on the various harbours which comprise “Other Scotland” when MMO make those available.
15. There were very big variations in the average value of landings. The Scottish average in November was £2,179, which was a massive +24% higher than the £1,753 in the same month of 2024.
16. The highest averages were in Cullivoe (£3,196) and Scalloway (£3.045) in Shetland. The lowest were in Other Scotland (£1,723) and Lerwick (£1,742). The Peterhead average was £2,319.
17. I have added the monthly statistics for the first 11 months of 2025 from January to November. The overall total values of the fish landings for each port/harbour are:
18. The total value of fish landings in the 10 months to November was just over £546 million, which was +1.6% higher than in the same period of 2024.
19. Peterhead has accounted for 46.7% of the total, which is not surprising. Lerwick has accounted for 17.0%. The other shares are all much smaller.
20. The rankings of the % changes are:
21. There are big geographical variations, as there usually are for the monthly statistics, like in November. The largest ports of Peterhead and Lerwick have done well in 2025. That is in marked
contrast with Scrabster and the Other Scotland harbours/ports.

Image: ©Fish Focus