Scotland's fisheries management strategy 2020 to 2030: delivery plan update 2025

Overview

Scotland’s fishing industry plays an important role in Scotland’s marine economy, and a significant role in the economic, social and cultural fabric of Scotland’s rural and coastal communities.

Marine statistics show that in 2022, fishing generated £335 million Gross Value Added (aGVA), 0.20% of the Scottish economy and 7% of the marine economy aGVA. In 2023, £652 million of sea fish and shellfish was landed by Scottish vessels and in the same year 3,793 fishers were working on Scottish vessels. Seafood processing employed 6,400 people in 2022, 0.24% of Scottish employment and 9% of marine economy employment.

Scotland’s Fisheries Management Strategy and the subsequent delivery plan set out the importance of managing Scotland’s fishing industry sustainably and responsibly, in order to safeguard the long-term viability of the industry and the rich marine environment that it operates within. Sustainable management means ensuring that the right measures are in place to protect marine ecosystems and halt biodiversity loss, whilst also ensuring that the right conditions are in place to support businesses to operate profitably and with certainty.

As ever, the balance between socio-economic and environmental outcomes is delicate, and requires a wide range of policies to be implemented and developed in order to be effective.

The marine policy environment in Scotland is dynamic, with a number of important and high-profile initiatives at various stages of development and delivery. This updated delivery plan aims to capture progress with those initiatives most relevant to fishing and to provide an update on progress against each of the actions within the Strategy’s 12 point action plan.

Background

Scotland’s Fisheries Management Strategy (FFM Strategy) was published in December 2020. A delivery plan (2022 Delivery Plan) was published in 2022 to support the FFM Strategy, record the progress with delivering key aspects of the Strategy so far and to help stakeholders to forward plan by indicating when work to deliver the various actions within the Strategy is intended to be carried out.

Context

The 2022 Delivery Plan included a clear prioritisation of those actions which would have significant benefit to the marine environment, and actions which would deliver substantial improvements in the way in which we tackle some of our most difficult fisheries management challenges. We have continued to make substantial progress delivering against these key priorities, with a number of actions underway which will deliver a marked improvement against marine outcomes.

Within this updated Delivery Plan there is a clear focus on the role that the fishing industry plays in Scotland’s economy, and the delivery of management functions and improvements that will help provide a stable platform for fishing businesses to operate from. This reflects the Scottish Government’s four priorities, in particular the need for sustainable growth of Scotland’s economy.

Of course, ensuring that the right measures are in place to support a healthy marine environment and to safeguard our fish stocks, helps us support a thriving fishing industry, which not only supports jobs and the wider economy, but also delivers food security at a national and international level.

UK Fisheries Act 2020 and Fisheries Objectives

Fishing activity in UK waters is managed in line with UK fisheries legislation (which includes the Fisheries Act 2020 (‘the 2020 Act’), UK and Scottish Government secondary legislation) and licence conditions where appropriate. In addition, all fishing activity in UK waters is managed through a range of technical measures. These technical measures were historically laid out in the form of technical conservation regulations written into the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) legislation, which were retained following the UK’s exit from the European Union and are now part of ‘assimilated law’.

The UK Joint Fisheries Statement (UK JFS), and the Fisheries Management Strategy in Scotland, contain the policy frameworks through which the UK Fisheries Policy Authorities seek to deliver the fisheries objectives contained within the 2020 Act. Whilst the Fisheries Management Strategy does not explicitly draw out the links to the fisheries objectives, we have highlighted the connections within the relevant sections below in order to demonstrate where the Strategy’s actions will help deliver the objectives.

Ecosystem-based approach

We deliver ecosystem-based management of Scotland’s fisheries through our coordinated approach to management of the marine environment and marine resources across a range of different policies and commitments. This includes putting in place appropriate restrictions on human activity in areas which need additional protection, minimising risk and interaction of human activity with key sensitive marine species and enhancing the sustainability of activity such as fishing through improving selectivity and reducing impact on benthic habitats.