Seafish has published its annual Economics of the Fishing Fleet Report which shows total fishing income increase by 16% in 2014, with £868m worth landed by the UK fishing fleet.
The report was revealed on the opening day of the International Institute of Fisheries Economic and Trade 2016 conference in Aberdeen.
Arina Motova, senior economist at Seafish, says: “This is a positive picture for most of the UK’s fishing fleet even though the total 2015 estimates are more conservative.”
“Our forecast shows that all UK fleets benefited from the oil price reduction and the economic performance indicators of most fleets show an improving profitability picture despite challenges such as the Landing Obligation coming in to effect for some fisheries.”
The total UK fleet operating profit was estimated at £216m 2014, a 54% increase from the previous year. While an estimated £157m of net profit was generated in 2014 equal to 17% of total income.
Provisional estimates for 2015 show total fishing income decreasing by 11% to £772m. This has been driven by the impact of the Russia’s EU trade ban on the pelagic sector and the subsequent decrease in the average mackerel price.
Ms Motova continued: “We got some excellent feedback last year on the new style of the fishing fleet report with many business owners saying they found the analysis more informative for making decisions.”
“We hope the additional information in the 2014 report, such as fleet comparisons and employment, as well as data visualisation tools used will make it even more easy to understand and useful for industry and policy makers going forward.”
The full report can be viewed on the Seafish website.
