SCOTTISH FISH LANDINGS STATISTICS 2024

Scottish fish landings statistics 2024. Analysis by Tony Mackay, Economist, Inverness tony@tonymackay.co.uk

1. The Marine Directorate of the Scottish Government publish a series of very detailed statistics on the fishing industry in Scotland. They recently published their annual statistics for 2024, which are available on the Scottish Government website.
2. One of the Marine Scotland tables gives detailed breakdowns of the landings in each of the 18 ports/fishery districts in the country.
3. For the last few years I have produced this annual analysis of the landings by port/district, together with brief summaries of the statistics for each of the 18. The latter will follow in the next few days.
4. Please contact me if you would like to read any of the individual reports.***
5. The fish landings statistics comprise landings by:

• Scottish vessels
• Other UK vessels
• Foreign vessels

6. The Marine Scotland statistics include separate tables for the above three groups. However, my tables below are for the overall totals.
7. The value of fish landings in Scotland in 2024 is estimated at £588 million. That is +4% higher than the 2023 total (in real terms, taking account of inflation).
8. The weight of fish landings in Scotland in 2024 is estimated at 377,000 tonnes. That is +13% higher than the 2023 total.
9. The report states that Scottish vessels accounted for £526 million or 89% of the value and non-Scottish vessels £62 million or 11%.
10. The Marine Scotland report concentrates on the Scottish fleet. It shows that they landed a total of £756 million in 2024, with £126 million in Norway (17% of total), £56 million in Denmark (7%), £24 million in the Rest of the UK (3%) and £24 million elsewhere (3%).
11. Of the 18 harbours/districts only 6 reported increases in value and only 7 increases in tonnage. All the others reported falls.
12. The total value of landings in Scotland was up + £24 million to £588 million. However, Peterhead itself had a + £40 million increase or +19.3%. Peterhead is by far and away the busiest fishing port in Scotland – and in the UK – and accounted for 42.9% of the total Scottish value last year. Its tonnage was also up +19.3% in 2024 and accounted for 57.4% of the Scottish total.
13. The other Scottish harbours/districts with increases in value were Kinlochbervie (+24.1%), Shetland (+15.2%), Fraserburgh (+5.3%), Stornoway (+3.9%) and Orkney (+3.3%).
14. The other Scottish harbours/districts with increases in tonnage landed were Kinlochbervie (+32.2%), Fraserburgh (+22.4%), Shetland (+21.7%), Stornoway (+12.9%), Orkney (+8.3%) and Buckie (+4.7%).
15. On the negative side, the harbours/districts with the worst falls in value were Ullapool (-20.5%), Oban (-19.8%), Eyemouth (-18.8%) and Lochinver (-15.9%). Those with the worst falls in tonnage were Ullapool (-38.6%), Eyemouth (-21.6%) and Scrabster (17.5%).
16. More detailed information on the individual ports/districts is given in the separate notes.

Main image: ©Fish Focus