New figures published by Seafish have revealed the UK’s fishing fleet turnover has reached GB£1bn for the first time.
The milestone was included in Seafish’s ‘Economics of the UK Fishing Fleet 2017’ report, which also found that total fishing income for UK vessels increased from GB£946m in 2016 to GB£984m in 2017, but operating profit decreased slightly despite the higher value of landings, dropping to an estimated GB£254m, a 4% decrease from 2016.
Steve Lawrence, economics project manager at Seafish, said: “These are promising figures for the UK fishing fleet with turnover reaching a landmark £1billion. Although operating profit is down, mainly due to increased fuel prices, we have seen some really strong numbers particularly for those vessels catching shellfish species.”
Fleet costs up
The decrease in operating profit was driven by an increase in fleet operating costs which was mainly due to a higher annual average fuel price in 2017. In nominal terms, the average price of fuel increased by 73% between January 2016 and December 2017 with total spend on fuel increasing by 26%.
Total fishing income increase was mainly due to a higher average price of shellfish species, while the sector also saw a higher value of landings in 2017. The total number of active fishing vessels also increased from 4,637 in 2016 to 4,701 in 2017.
The report found that uncertainty over the future political and trade landscape, abundance of fish, oil price, quota access and unpredictable weather patterns were all seen as potential barriers to business growth.
