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Scottish Sea Fisheries 2008
16/09/2009
Scotland's Chief Statistician today published Scottish Sea Fisheries Statistics 2008 which show an increase in landings by Scottish vessels.
The figures show that 371,000 tonnes of fish were landed by Scottish vessels with a value of £396 million.
Landings by Scottish based vessels
Between 2007 and 2008, the value of landings by Scottish vessels increased by 3 per cent, representing an increase of 1 per cent in real terms, while the volume increased by 1 per cent since 2007.
Shellfish landings made up 39 per cent by value and 17 per cent by volume of all landings by Scottish-based vessels in 2008, with a total value of £155 million for 65 thousand tonnes landed. The volume of shellfish landings decreased by 3 per cent between 2007 and 2008 but, as prices decreased in real terms, the value landed decreased by 7 per cent in real terms.
Demersal species made up 35 per cent by value and 27 per cent by volume, with a total value of £139 million for 100 thousand tonnes landed. This represents an increase in value of 5 per cent in real terms compared with 2007.
Pelagic species made up 26 per cent by value and 56 per cent by volume, with a total value of £101 million for 207 thousand tonnes landed. This represents an increase in value of 9 per cent in real terms compared with 2007.
Nephrops is the most valuable species to the Scottish fleet, with a total value of over £90 million. However, as prices per tonne dropped by 7 per cent in real terms compared with 2007, the value of Nephrops landed decreased by £13 million (at 2008 prices) since 2007. The decrease in the value of Nephrops landed resulted in a fall of about £11 million (7 per cent) in real terms in the value of overall shellfish landings in 2008.
Mackerel is the second most valuable species to the Scottish fleet. The volume of mackerel landings by Scottish vessels remained steady compared with 2007 but prices per tonne increased by 19 per cent, leading to a 20 per cent increase in real terms in the total value to reach £86 million in 2008.
Between 2007 and 2008, there was a 36 per cent increase in the volume of landings made abroad by Scottish vessels. At an estimated £53 million, the value of all landings abroad by Scottish vessels in 2008 was £12 million (29 per cent) higher in real terms than in the previous year. This was due to an increase in the volume of mackerel landed abroad, up by 9 thousand tonnes (50 per cent) from 2007.
Scottish fishing fleet
The number of active fishing vessels based in Scotland increased from 2,191 at the end of 2007 to 2,205 at the end of 2008.
Since 2000, the number of over 10m vessels has decreased by 25 per cent, reflecting the impact of two decommissioning schemes in 2001-02 and 2003-04 which awarded grants to owners in the Scottish whitefish fleet to decommission their vessel and surrender their fishing licence. This segment grew by 16 vessels between 2007 and 2008 due to an increase in the number of shellfish boats.
There are currently 1,492 vessels in the under 10m fleet, a net reduction of 103 vessels since 2004 but only 2 vessels less than in 2007.
Fishing effort (days at sea multiplied by the power (kW) of the vessel)
Effort in the cod recovery zone by the Scottish over 10 metre fleet using whitefish gear dropped substantially between 2000 to 2004 (Table 10), reflecting the reduction in fleet capacity resulting from the decommissioning schemes in 2001-02 and 2003-04. Over this period, whitefish effort dropped by 62 per cent in the North Sea and by 40 per cent in the West of Scotland. From 2004 to 2007, effort continued to decline, albeit less rapidly. In 2008, whitefish effort by the Scottish over 10 metre fleet stood at 12.2 million kWdays in the North Sea, an increase of 10 per cent compared to 2007, and stood at 2.0 million kWdays in the West of Scotland, at around the same level as the 2007 effort.
Effort using Nephrops gear in the North Sea more than doubled between 2000 and 2003 but has remained roughly stable since then, and was 9.2 million kW days in 2008. Nephrops effort in the West of Scotland has been roughly stable since 2000 and was 4.8 million kW days in 2008.
Employment
The number of fishermen employed on Scottish fishing vessels at the end of 2008 stood at 5,448, an increase of under 1 per cent on the figures for the previous year.
Quota uptake
Uptake of quota was high for the major pelagic fish stocks; approaching 100 per cent for North Sea Herring, West of Scotland Herring and West of Scotland Mackerel and approaching 90 per cent for North Sea Mackerel.
Quota uptake reached 100 per cent for West of Scotland Cod and was close to 100 per cent for five of the other key demersal stocks (North Sea Cod, North Sea Saithe, North Sea Whiting, North Sea Plaice and West of Scotland Monkfish). Uptake of North Sea Monkfish was 95 per cent.
The Scottish Government's sea fisheries database (FIN) holds details of, among other things, all fish landings into Scotland and landings abroad by Scottish based vessels. Voyage information is supplied by skippers who are required by EU legislation to maintain logbooks. Data on landings is provided by fish sellers under similar EU legislation. Information is collated and entered at port offices and then transmitted to the FIN central server in Pentland House, Edinburgh. DEFRA maintains a similar system for landings into England, Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as landings made by EWNI vessels abroad.
Data on employment within the Scottish fishing fleet is collated by the Scottish Government in an annual survey distributed to port offices in each Scottish fishing district.