NUMBER OF JOBS IN UK CATCHING SECTOR FALLS

Number of jobs in UK catching sector falls. The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) has published its annual UK Sea Fisheries Statistics 2020. The publication is a summary of:

• The UK fishing fleet
• Its activity at sea
• Landings – how much fish they catch and land
• Effort – how long they spend at sea
• Trade

Key statistics include:

Fleet

The number of total UK fishers decreased by 6% in 2020 compared to 2019. This amounted to about 700 fewer jobs in the catching sector. The decrease was likely driven by the continuing Covid-19 pandemic. Over the past decade however, the number of fishers working on UK vessels has been stable at around 12,000.

Landings

In 2020, UK vessels landed 623 thousand tonnes of fish into the UK and abroad with a value of £831 million. Compared to 2019, this is a slight increase in the quantity of sea fish landed and a 16% decrease in value landed.

The value of pelagic landings between 2019 and 2020 increased by 14%. The increase in quantity and value landed is driven by an increase in quotas for key pelagic species. Shellfish landings decreased by 18% while their value decreased by 33%. The price per tonne fetched for shellfish species decreased considerably more than demersal and pelagic species, down 20% compared to 8% for both demersal and pelagic species.

Trade

The UK is a net importer of fish, with imports exceeding exports. The UK’s trade gap in 2020 for sea fish is 248,000 tonnes. Compared to 2019, imports were down by 7%, leading to narrowing of the crude trade gap which decreased by 8% compared to 2019.

In 2020, the UK imported 672,000 of fish, with a value of £3,206 million and exported 423,000 of fish, with a value of £1,627 million. Salmon was most exported, and tuna was the most imported fish by quantity.

View the full report, tables and underlying datasets