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Scottish Sea Fisheries Statistics 2007
11/09/2008
Scotland's Chief Statistician today published Scottish Sea Fisheries Statistics 2007. The figures indicate the value of fish catches landed by Scottish vessels increased by one percent 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
National statistics are produced by professionally independent statistical staff.
The Scottish Government Marine Directorate's sea fisheries database (the Fisheries Information Network - FIN) holds details of, among other things, all landings into Scotland and landings abroad by Scottish based vessels (ie vessels licensed at a Scottish port). Information on voyages - catches, gear, sea area fished etc - is supplied by skippers who are required under EU regulations to maintain logbooks. Data on landings - weight, presentation, price etc - is provided by fish sellers under similar EU legislation. SFPA port offices collate the information and enter it locally, and each night it is automatically transmitted to the FIN central server in Pentland House. There are details of about 80,000 voyages and over 1 million sale items recorded on the database each year. DEFRA maintains a similar system for landings into England, Wales & Northern Ireland, and by EWNI vessels landing abroad.