FISH LANDINGS IN SCOTLAND IN OCTOBER 2024

Fish landings in Scotland in October 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 October 2024. The Scottish ones are set out below. The landings are by all
UK and foreign vessels.
2. Overall, there was a big +19% increase in the value of fish landings in Scotland to just under £76 million, compared with October 2023, and a +19% increase in tonnage to 48,217.
3. That is a little better than the UK totals, which were +16% increases in both value and tonnage. Scotland accounted for 72% of the UK value and 78% of the tonnage of fish landed.
4. England ports accounted for 25% of the UK value total, Northern Ireland 2% and Wales less than 1%.
5. Four of the nine Scottish ports/districts recorded increases in both value and tonnage and 5 decreases. The value increases were in Kinlochbervie (+141%), Lerwick (+56%), Fraserburgh (+34%) and Peterhead (+11%). The biggest declines were in Cullivoe (-36%), Ullapool (-30%) and Scrabster (-29%). The biggest tonnage increases were in Kinlochbervie (+198%), Lerwick (+38%) and Fraserburgh (+33%).
6. The average value per tonne of fish landed in October was unchanged at £1,572.

7. Peterhead is by far the busiest fishing port in the UK, accounting for a massive 54% of the total Scottish value and 39% of the total UK value in October. The tonnage shares were 60% of the
Scottish total and 47% of the UK. The port had big +20% increases in the value and +18% in the tonnage.
8. Lerwick was the second highest value port in October, recording huge +56% rises in value and +38% in tonnage. Some of those increases seem to have been attributable to falls elsewhere in
Shetland (ie Cullivoe and Scalloway).
9. Fraserburgh was 3rd in October, with a +34% rise in the value and +33% in tonnage landed.
10. I have included an additional table below which gives the 10 months’ totals from January to October 2024. The Scottish total value of £320.8 million was -1.4% less than for the same period
in 2023. The tonnage total of 218,710 was +7.7% higher. There has therefore been a fall in the value per tonne of about -9%, which must be a serious concern for the industry.

11. Only three ports have had increases in the value so far in 2024: Lerwick (+32%), Kinlochbervie (+21%) and Peterhead (+18%) The others have had declines, the worst being Cullivoe (-36%) and
Ullapool (-32%).
12. Four ports have recorded increases in tonnage and five declines. Some of the tonnage changes have been surprising, notably the +16% rise in Fraserburgh, where the value is -1% lower.
13. Peterhead continues to dominate both the value and tonnage, accounting for 46% and 59% respectively of the Scottish totals.
14. I shall write a more detailed report on the 2023 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.