Scottish fishing income increases

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Figures published by Scotland''s Chief Statistician indicate the value of fish catches landed by Scottish vessels increased by one per cent in real terms in 2007.

The statistics show that 370 thousand tonnes of fish were caught by Scottish vessels last year with a value of £380 million.

Other main findings in the publication, which is based on data collected before the recent rise in fuel prices, include:

Landings by Scottish based vessels

• The value of shellfish landings increased by 13 per cent in real terms to £163 million and the volume also increased by 13 per cent to 67 thousand tonnes.

• High value shellfish landings formed 18 per cent of the total by weight but 42 per cent by value, making shellfish the most valuable sector to the Scottish fleet.

• The value of demersal landings decreased by 8 per cent in real terms to £130 million and the volume of landings decreased by 5 per cent to 89 thousand tonnes.

• Demersal landings made up 34 per cent of the total value and 24 per cent of the total volume.

• The 2007 pelagic landings have been affected by the repayment arrangements agreed with the Commission for historic undeclared landings of herring and mackerel. Under administrative arrangements, repayment started in 2006 and continued into 2007.

• The volume of pelagic species landed decreased by 5 per cent to 213 thousand tonnes. Although prices per tonne landed increased, the value landed decreased by 4 per cent in real terms to £91 million.

• Pelagic landings made up 24 per cent of the total value and 58 per cent of the total volume.

Scottish Fishing Fleet

• There were 2,191 active fishing vessels based in Scotland at the end of 2007, a net reduction of 33 (1 per cent) since 2006.

• In the last decade, the number of over 10m vessels has decreased, reflecting the impact of two decommissioning schemes in 2001 and 2003 which gave grants to owners in the Scottish whitefish fleet to decommission their vessel and surrender their fishing licence.

• The over 10 metres fleet decreased by 9 vessels (1 per cent) in 2007 to 697. This segment is now 37 per cent smaller than in 1997, a trend which has affected the demersal (down 45 per cent), pelagic (down 52 per cent) and shellfish (down 27 per cent) sectors.

• The under 10 metre segment of the fleet decreased by 24 vessels (2 per cent) to 1,494 over the year to December 2007.

Employment

• The number of fishermen employed increased by 4 per cent between 2006 and 2007 to reach 5,424.

Quota Uptake

• UK Quota uptake reached 90 per cent or more for four of the most important demersal stocks (NS Cod, NS Saithe, NS Plaice and NS Anglers, just exceeding 100 per cent for NS Cod and NS Plaice). Quota uptake was greater than 80 percent for WS Cod, NS Whiting and NS Nephrops, and greater than 70 percent for NS Haddock and WS Nephrops.

• Quota uptake for the four most important pelagic stocks continued to be high in 2007, approaching 100 percent for NS Herring, WS Herring and WS Mackerel and exceeding 90 percent for NS Mackerel.