Value of fish landed by Scots boats leaps 12% to £433 million

Published on Wednesday 26 May 2010 22:35

THE value of fish landed by Scottish vessels increased by £47 million to £433m last year, official figures showed yesterday.

The 12 per cent increase was driven by a steep rise in the value of mackerel, now the most lucrative species to the Scottish fleet and worth about 135m a year.

The volume of fish landed by Scottish boats also rose to 377.8 tonnes in 2009 from 371.5 tonnes the previous year, according the Chief Statistician.

Fisheries minister Richard Lochhead said the figures underlined the importance of fishing to Scotland's rural economy.

He said: "The Scottish fleet brought in more than 440m in 2009, which illustrates the industry and the Scottish Government's determination to retain a viable industry even while working within a broken Common Fisheries Policy.

"And while a 12 per cent increase is laudable, we should not overlook that the price for many of the main species, cod, haddock and nephrops for example, dropped in 2009 compared with the previous year and the cost of fuel increased.

"This demonstrates that, as important as this industry is to Scotland, it remains vulnerable to market forces and the health of the marine environment, let alone the policy of the day."

The industry landed 143m-worth of shellfish making up just under a third (32 per cent) of the value of landings last year.

Demersal species, such as cod and haddock, accounted for around a third (34 per cent) of the value of fish landed and were worth about 149m, with about 104,000 tonnes caught.

This was around half of the 205,000 tonnes of pelagic fish caught last year, such as mackerel, herring and blue whiting. The overall value of pelagic species jumped from 101m in 2008 to 151m last year.

In 2009 the number of boats in the Scottish fleet fell by 31 to 2,174 on the previous year.