Scrabster in top three in Scotland as fishing activity outperforms national average
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Fishing activity at Scrabster outperformed the national average last year and the port is now in the top three in Scotland, newly released figures have shown.
However, while the Caithness harbour has recovered well from the "turbulence and volatility" created by Covid-19, continued growth is likely to be hampered by fuel costs and other challenges.
Marine Scotland's Scottish Fisheries Statistics 2021 give details of fish landings at every port in the country.
The value of landings at Scrabster increased by 26 per cent to £34.2 million last year, while the tonnage rose by 13.6 per cent to 17,344.
In Scotland as a whole the value of landings in 2021 was up 8.4 per cent and the tonnage down 1.5 per cent.
The Scrabster value was 7.8 per cent of the Scottish total and the tonnage 6.1 per cent.
The harbour is the third most important port/district in Scotland, after Peterhead and Shetland.
The breakdown of Scrabster's landings showed demersal/white fish at £28 million (82 per cent of its total), up 28 per cent on 2020, and shellfish at £6.2 million (18 per cent), up 18 per cent.
The most valuable species landed was monkfish at £8.3 million (24 per cent of the total), followed by haddock, hake, crab, cod and ling.
In terms of tonnage, demersal/white fish accounted for 88 per cent of the Scrabster total (up 15 per cent on 2020) and shellfish 12 per cent (up three per cent). There were only tiny landings of pelagic fish.
The report shows there were 103 registered fishing vessels at Scrabster at the end of December 2021, representing 4.9 per cent of the Scottish total. There were 124 fishers, 2.9 per cent of the national total.
"Those percentages are much lower than those for the weight and value of landings, so clearly most landings in Scrabster are made by vessels registered elsewhere," Inverness-based economic consultant Tony Mackay said.
He added: “The past few years have been very difficult for the Scottish fishing industry, so these latest statistics for Scrabster are very encouraging. The port has done much better than most of the other ones and it now ranks third of the 18 fishing ports/districts in Scotland.”
Harbour trust manager Sandy Mackie said: “The 2021 fishing statistics show a welcome growth in tonnage and value for Scrabster fishing activity and a good recovery from the turbulence and volatility of the Covid period.
"It is encouraging that the port has outperformed the national average. Indeed, the activity for the trust’s 2021/22 financial period was the second-best year for the port over the last decade.
"The growth has continued into 2022 but the fishing sector is facing significant challenges ranging from fuel costs and quota issues to lack of processing capacity for small fish and now increased debt servicing costs.”
The summary of the Marine Scotland report states: “There are signs that some parts of the fishing industry are recovering from the impacts of Covid-19. However, there hasn’t been a return to pre-pandemic levels."
The number of active Scottish vessels remained stable at 2082, increasing by two per cent compared with 2012.
The Scottish fleet is dominated by vessels that are 10 metres and under in length, with a total of 1573 vessels falling into this category in 2021.
In 2021, 4241 fishers were working on Scottish vessels, down by 70 compared with 2020. Since 2013, employment on Scottish vessels has fallen by six per cent.
The report also shows that Scottish vessels landed 70 per cent of their fish in Scotland in 2021. The other landings were in Norway (20 per cent), Denmark (four per cent), rest of UK (four per cent), Ireland (one per cent) and other countries (one per cent).
