The latest statistics published by the Scottish Government show that the value of fish landings is at a record high, having increased by 19% to £513 million in 2014.
Mackerel is still the most valuable stock, accounting for £195 million of Scottish landings - over a third of the overall total in landings.
The volume of landings has also increased over the last year by 31% to 480,400 tonnes.
“The fishing industry is very important to Scotland’s economy and contributes over £500 million in revenues a year,” said Fisheries Secretary Richard Lochhead. “It is encouraging to see that the value of the Scottish catch is at a record high and the volume of fish landed has increased by over 30%.
"The value of whitefish landings - led by cod, haddock and monkfish – now accounts for £143 million to the industry, this comes despite a decrease in the volume of landings.”
Mr Lochhead said that he is hopeful that the industry can see revenues grow further, adding to fishermen’s bottom line and creating further good quality jobs, but he acknowledges that there is still more to do, which is why the Scottish Government will continue to promote Scotland’s priorities on the international stage and work hard to get the best deal possible for Scottish fishermen and the fishing community.
Bertie Armstrong, chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, attributed the rise in overall volume and value of Scottish seafood landings to mackerel, as the healthy state of the stock led to an increase in quota last year.
However, he did say that of particular significance is the fact that the quota allocation for whitefish was almost fully taken up in 2014.
“This means that when the landing obligation, or discard ban as it is known, starts to be phased-in from 1 January 2016, as things stand there is currently very little room for manoeuvre for the fleet, said Mr Armstrong. “These landing figures therefore underline that if the discard ban is to work and not impact upon the viability of the fishing fleet, then there is the real need for there to be sensible compensatory quota increases to account for the fact that all fish caught will have to be landed in the future.”
