Value of fish landings at Scrabster third highest in Scotland last year
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The value of fish landings at Scrabster was the third highest in Scotland in 2022, it has emerged.
The Caithness port saw landings worth £36.5 million last year, up by 7.7 per cent compared with 2021.
The weight of the landings was 17,483 tonnes, up slightly on the previous year, according to the annual report by Marine Scotland.
A breakdown of the figures reveals that white fish accounted for £30 million – 82 per cent of the total – with shellfish at £6.5 million.
The most valuable species landed were monkfish at £7.2 million (20 per cent of the overall total), haddock (15 per cent), cod (12 per cent) and hake (12 per cent).
In terms of tonnage, white fish accounted for 87 per cent of the Scrabster total and shellfish 12 per cent, which was down by seven per cent. Landings of pelagic fish in mid or upper waters were small.
The report shows there were 102 registered fishing vessels at Scrabster at the end of December 2021 – five per cent of the Scottish total of 2038. It states that the value of fish landings in Scotland in 2022 was estimated at just over £480 million, up 9.9 per cent compared to the previous year, while the weight of fish landings in Scotland was just over 289,000 tonnes, an increase of 2.5 per cent.
The top Scottish port for fish landings was Peterhead with a value of £191.1 million (39.8 per cent of the Scottish total), with Shetland second on £82.3 million (17.1 per cent). They also came out top regarding tonnage with figures of almost 155, 000 and 55, 000 respectively.
Lochinver had the biggest increase in value of fish landings with a massive rise of 63 per cent to £19.8 million. It also had the biggest rise in tonnage, which was up by 29 per cent to just over11,000 tonnes.
Inverness-based consultant Tony Mackay pointed out that the value of fish landings was increased by inflation but he described the Scrabster results as "very encouraging".
He said: "The Scrabster value was 7.6 per cent of the Scottish total and the tonnage 6.0 per cent. The port is the third most important in the country, after Peterhead and Shetland."
Mr Mackay added: "The fishing industry has had a few very difficult years because of the negative impacts of the Covid pandemic. They reduced the demand for fish significantly and also caused problems for fishermen to get together to fish.
"However, a modest recovery now seems under way.
"The Marine Scotland statistics show that in 2022 Scottish vessels accounted for 88.8 per cent of the total value of landings in Scotland, Rest of UK [RUK] 6.9 per cent and foreign vessels 4.3 per cent. The tonnage breakdown was Scotland 88.2 per cent, RUK 6.6 per cent and foreign vessels, 5.2 per cent. The landings are clearly dominated by Scottish vessels."
Marine Scotland also publishes statistics on where Scottish vessels land their fish. In 2022, the total value of their landings was just over £617 million. Scottish ports/districts accounted for 69.1 per cent of that total, RUK ports 2.8 per cent and foreign ports 27.1 per cent.
