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Scottish Sea Fisheries Statistics 2003

1. Overview of The Scottish Fishing Fleet

1.1 The regulation of the UK Fleet

The structure and capacity of the UK and Scottish fishing fleets has, since 1983, been dictated primarily by the EU Common Fisheries Policy. Between 1997 and 2002 fleet structure was managed within the CFP through the fourth Multi Annual Guidance Programme (MAGP) designed to tailor fleet capacity to available fish stocks across the EU. Under this programme the UK fishing fleet was divided into eight of segments defined mainly by broad fishing method, (Pelagic Gears, Beam trawl, Demersal seines and nephrops, Lines & Nets, Shellfish-Mobile, Shellfish-Fixed, Distant Water and vessels under 10 metres) and capacity limits or effort reduction targets set for each segment. MAGP IV has now ended and has been replaced by global effort ceilings at member state level controlled through a system of entry/exit controls. In simple terms, a vessel can only enter the fleet when equivalent capacity has exited the fleet.

At a UK level, restrictive (closed) licensing has been the main UK Government instrument to bring the activities of the UK fishing fleet into line with MAGP and UK aims on fleet and catch management. Aside from a few limited exceptions, all vessels engaged in commercial sea fishing are required to hold a licence issued by UK Fisheries Departments. Current measures to manage the capacity of the UK fleet include an halt to the issuing of new licenses and detailed rules to govern the transfer and aggregation of existing licences. These licensing rules, including capacity penalties imposed when licences are transferred of aggregated, form the mechanism for bringing the capacity of the UK fleet into line with EU and UK objectives.

The UKs restrictive licensing controls, in combination with successive decommissioning schemes (1994-1997; 2001-2002 and 2003), explain many of the fleet statistics and trends within this publication and the figures are interpreted in this context where appropriate.

1.2 Fleet size

2003 saw a continuation of recent changes to the Scottish fleet, either directly or indirectly prompted by measures designed to conserve vulnerable whitefish stocks, particularly (North Sea) Cod. The most important of these measures has been the 2003 decommissioning scheme under which 20 vessels over 10 metres in length were scrapped at Fraserburgh, 10 at Buckie, 6 at Lerwick, 5 at Peterhead, 2 at Aberdeen and one each at Kirkwall, Lochinver and Ayr.

There were 2,395 active fishing vessels based in Scotland at the end of 2003, a net reduction of 118 since 2002 (4.7 per cent), just under half of which is attributable to the 46 vessels decommissioned in 2003. Table I below shows that there were reductions in the number of active vessels at 13 out of 18 districts, but 50 per cent of the Scottish total reduction in vessel numbers occurred in the North East of Scotland; where most of the whitefish fleet is based and where most vessels were decommissioned.

Table I: Changes in numbers of active Scottish based vessels 2002-03, by district.

Source: Table 6 and Scottish Fisheries Statistics 2002

These reductions have only affected vessels in the fleet greater than 10 metres in overall length. The number of vessels over 10 metres in length has been declining steadily since at least 1989 (Chart 2) and in 2003 stood at 763, down by 79 since 2002 and 570 fewer than in 1993 (-43 per cent; Table 1). The decline has affected all of the main catching sectors, demersal, pelagic and shellfish to a varying degree. The number of demersal vessels fell by 58 (15 per cent) in 2003 ( Table 4), again largely as a result of decommissioning and the Scottish over 10 metres demersal fleet is now 48 per cent smaller than in 1993.

The number of vessels in the 10 metres and under fleet (1,632) has changed little since 2002 and has been relatively stable at around 1,600 vessels since 1993 ( Table 1). It should be noted however, that the time series for the 10m & under segment suffers from an inconsistency that affects the recorded fleet size before and after 1993. In 1993 restrictive licensing was extended to all vessels of 10 metres and under in overall length, requiring all such vessels to apply for a licence to fish. The number of licence applications for these vessels revealed many more actively fishing than had been previously recorded.

1.3 Vessel capacity

1.3.1 Overall length

The average length of vessel in the over 10m fleet was 19.22 metres in 2003, a shortening of 42 cm on the 2002 figure. This reduction represents a reversal of a previous trend towards increasing vessel length, seen up until 2000. Since 2000, the average within the over 10m segment has fallen by 82 cm and has returned to a level last seen in 1993 ( Table 1).

1.3.2 Engine Power

Previous years statistics on engine power in the Scottish fleet have been underestimated to an unknown degree, due the inclusion of vessels with engines operating at a higher power than permitted on their licences. In November 1999 in response to this problem, Fisheries Departments introduced special (concessionary) licensing arrangements and a timetable for compliance with engine power controls. Under the compliance timetable licence holders who have admitted to underdeclaration, have until the end of 2004 to ensure that either: (i) their true engine power is registered and to have acquired enough licence entitlement to cover this, or (ii) to have de-rated their engine to the figure on their licence. In practice, most have chosen to acquire extra licences to cover their operational engine power. Consequently, it needs to be borne in mind that after 1999, the trends in average engine power shown in Table 1 are complicated by the effect of an increasing number of owners declaring their true, higher engine power. Nevertheless, while this bias makes the actual rate of change unclear, it is clear that Scottish based vessels are now fishing with greater engine power on average than in the past.

The total registered engine power of the over 10m Scottish fleet was 346 thousand kW in 2003 ( Table 1), a fall of 4 per cent since 2002 and 16 per cent lower than in 1993. However, average engine power, at 453 kW, has increased 6 per cent since 2002 and is 47 per cent greater than in 1993. The opposing trends of increasing total fleet engine capacity and increasing average engine power per can be explained by a combination of factors: (i) the 43 per cent reduction in the over 10 m fleet since 1993 (Section 1.1); (ii) the "natural wastage" of licensed engine power that often accompanies the aggregation of several licences onto a single vessel ¹ and; (iii) since 1999, the progressive correction of under declared engine power, in line with the concessionary licensing arrangements noted above.

1.4 Employment

Employment in the catching sector in 2003, fell by 9 per cent to 5,276 ( Table 11), while the number of fishermen regularly employed on Scottish based vessels at 3,968, was 471 fewer than in 2002 ( Table 14). Decommissioning in 2003 contributed substantially to this reduction in employment, although any precise estimate of its effect is confounded by economic and quota related factors.

The number of irregularly employed (mainly part-time) fishermen in 2003 remained at 2002 levels.

As with the fleet reductions, the loss in full time employment has occurred disproportionately in North East Scotland where the majority of the demersal fleet is based and where decommissioning was concentrated in 2003: Peterhead, Fraserburgh, Buckie and Aberdeen together lost 401 regularly employed in fishing, although this was partially offset by increases at some west coast districts: Stornoway, Ullapool and Oban together gained 98 regularly employed fishermen in 2003. The general decline in demersal fisheries had less of an impact on employment in west coast districts where local vessels are predominantly involved in fishing for Nephrops, scallops and other shellfish.

Footnote

¹ Occurs when the sum of the engine power capacities attached to the licences used in an aggregation, exceeds the maximum engine power of the vessel on which the aggregate licence is used. The excess engine power entitlement is then effectively lost from the fleet total.

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