The value of landings at the port rose to £191.1 million, while the tonnage rose by 2.1% to 154.9 million tonnes, according to Marine Scotland’s annual report on Scottish Sea Fisheries Statistics 2022, which gives detailed statistics on the landings of fish in every port/district in the country.

In Scotland as a whole the value of landings in 2022 was up +9.9% and the tonnage up +2.5%. The Peterhead value rise was therefore slightly higher than the national average but the tonnage rise slightly lower.

The port is by far the biggest fishing port in the country. The landings value was 39.8% of the Scottish total and the tonnage 53.6%.

The Scottish fishing industry is dominated by Peterhead port according to the latest statistics.

In terms of value, the breakdown was:

pelagic fish £97.6 million (51% of the total; up +5% on 2021),
demersal/white fish £68.2 million (36%; up +15%); and
shellfish £25.3 million (13%; up +21%).

The most valuable species landed were mackerel at £76 million (40% of the overall total), nephrops £23 million (12%), and herring £17.2 million (9%).

In terms of tonnage, pelagic fish accounted for 70 per cent of the Peterhead total (down -3% on 2021), demersal/white fish 26% (up +4%) and shellfish 4% (down -1%). The biggest landings were of mackerel (41% of the total), herring (18%) and blue whiting (11%).

There were increases in the values of all three categories but only small changes in the tonnage.

The Marine Scotland report shows that there were only 98 registered fishing vessels at Peterhead at December 31, 2022, which was just 4.8% of the Scottish total of 2038. There were just 356 fishers, who were 8.6% of the national total. Those percentages are much lower than those for the weight and value of landings given above.

The Scottish fishing industry is dominated by Peterhead Port. It accounted for 39.8% of the total value of landings and 53.6% of the total tonnage in 2022.

The main reason why the value share is lower than the tonnage share is that Peterhead specialises in demersal and pelagic fish.

Many of the smaller ports/districts specialise in shellfish, which are generally of higher value.

The Marine Scotland report states: “Pelagic species accounted for 50% of the tonnage landed into Scotland whilst demersal species made up 36 per cent and shellfish species 14%.

“By value, 41% of landings into Scotland were demersal species, 31% were shellfish and 28% were pelagic species.

"The differences in shares by tonnage and value reflect the differences in average prices per tonne (for landings by Scottish vessels) across the species types: shellfish sell at relatively higher average prices per tonne, whilst pelagic species receive the lowest average prices per tonne.”

Together Peterhead and the Shetland Islands accounted for 56.9% of the total value and 72.5% of the total tonnage in 2022.

Peterhead leads the way as fish landings rise by 10.5%