We use cookies to collect anonymous data to help us improve your site browsing experience.

Click 'Accept all cookies' to agree to all cookies that collect anonymous data. To only allow the cookies that make the site work, click 'Use essential cookies only.' Visit 'Set cookie preferences' to control specific cookies.

Set cookie preferences

Your cookie preferences have been saved. You can change your cookie settings at any time.

Publication - Statistics

Scotland's marine economic statistics 2018

Published
14 October 2020
Directorate
Marine Directorate, +2 more … Agriculture and Rural Economy Directorate, Chief Economist Directorate
Part of
Economy, Marine and fisheries, Transport, +1 more … Work and skills
ISBN
9781800041455

Statistics on the economic contributions of Scotland’s marine sectors in 2018. Includes a time series of Gross Value Added (GVA), turnover and employment for industrial categories defined as part of the marine sector.

This document is part of a collection

View supporting documents Supporting documents

2. Marine Economy Overview 

2.1 Marine economic key points

In 2018, the Scottish marine economy generated £4.3 billion in GVA: accounting for 3.0% of the overall Scottish economy. The Scottish marine economy provided employment for 74,200 people (headcount), contributing 2.8% of the total Scottish employment.  

The oil and gas services sector is the biggest contributor to the marine economy in terms of turnover and GVA. However, marine tourism employs the most people of all the sectors covered in this report. Oil and gas services provide 42% of the marine economy GVA and 22% of the employment while marine tourism provides 13% of the GVA and 40% of the employment (see Table 1 and Figure 1).  

There are considerable variations in labour productivity (GVA per worker) across the marine economy, with freight water transport having the highest GVA per worker in 2018 (£235,000), and marine tourism producing the lowest at £19,000. In 2017, aquaculture had produced the highest GVA per employee. 

Oil and gas extraction is not included in these figures, although support services for oil and gas are included. This broadly aligns the figures with those provided by the onshore values in the National Accounts for Scotland.  

Table 1: Marine economic sectors – GVA, turnover, employment and GVA per head, 2018
Description GVA Turnover Employment
Headcount 		GVA Per Head
£M £M '000s £
Fishing 301 593 4.9 62,002
Aquaculture 238 921 2.2 106,551
Support for oil & gas 1,798 4,006 16.6 108,295
Processing 338 1,728 7.6 44,487
Ship building 289 1,238 7.1 40,676
Construction & water transport services 557 625 4.0 139,275
Passenger water transport 83 305 1.5 55,467
Freight water transport 94 300 0.4 235,000
Renting & leasing of water transport equipment 16 26 0.2 79,000
Marine Tourism 579 1,038 29.7 19,498
Total  4,294   10,780  74.2 57,867
Figure 1: Scotland's marine economy - distribution of GVA, turnover and employment across sectors, 2018
Figure 1 – Bar chart showing the percentage each marine industry contributes to overall marine economy GVA, turnover and employment in 2018.

Sectors ranked in order of size (GVA). Sea and coastal freight and passenger transport and Renting and leasing of water transport equipment have been combined to make the chart more readable.

2.2 Marine economy trends

Between 2017 and 2018, the marine economy's GVA decreased by 17% from £5.2 billion to £4.3 billion (2018 prices). Employment fell by 0.5%.  

Table 2: Marine sector - GVA, turnover and employment, 2009 to 2018 (2018 prices)

Year

 GVA Turnover

Employment '000s
£M £M
2009* 5,319 13,943 70.6
2010* 5,293 12,935 68.5
2011 4,800 12,882 69.9
2012 5,131 13,299 69.5
2013 5,118 13,844 73.9
2014 5,183 14,536 75.0
2015 5,031 14,091 79.1
2016 4,508 11,026 76.0
2017 5,194 11,889 74.5
2018 4,294 10,780 74.2

* SABS categories for oil and gas services changed in 2011 see Annex B section 17.7.  

The longer term trend shows that between 2009 and 2018 the marine economy GVA (adjusted to 2018 prices) fell by 19% while employment increased by 5%.  

Figure 2: Marine sector - GVA and employment, 2009 to 2018 (2018 prices)
Figure 2 – Chart showing trends from 2009 to 2018 of overall marine sector GVA and employment. GVA shown at 2018 prices.

The change in GVA from 2017 to 2018 is shown in Figure 3. The figures for the marine economy by industry are shown in Table 19 on page 50.

Figure 3: Marine sector – Change in GVA by sector, 2017 to 2018 (2018 prices)
Figure 3 – Chart showing change in Marine GVA by industry sector between 2017 and 2018. GVA shown at 2018 prices.

2.3 Marine economy by geography

The values presented at local authority level are mostly based on SABS data. Most values can be provided by local authority, though some become disclosive at this level and are aggregated into the 'unallocated' category. The methodology for combining values from the different sources is detailed in Annex B: Methodology and source data. 

Aberdeen City accounted for £1.7 billion (39%) of the marine economy's GVA for 2018, with Aberdeenshire the next highest with £949 million (22%) (Table 3). Glasgow City contributed 6% of the marine GVA and employment in 2018. While Highland contributed 5% of the marine GVA and 12% of the employment.

The biggest change in GVA (value not percentage) from 2017 to 2018 was in the Aberdeen City local authority (Table 22). This is due to changes in oil prices causing a reduction in turnover for the for oil and gas support services. The second biggest change was in Fife local authority and is likely due to ship building. This is discussed in more detail in the Shipbuilding chapter.

Table 3: Marine sector - GVA, turnover and employment (headcount), by local authority, 2018
% of Scotland
Local authority GVA Turnover Employment GVA Turnover Employment
£M £M 000's
Aberdeen City 1,669 3,457 15.5 39% 32% 21%
Aberdeenshire 949 2,238 10.1 22% 21% 14%
Angus 59 83 1.2 1% 1% 2%
Argyll & Bute 131 349 5.2 3% 3% 7%
City Of Edinburgh 35 119 1.5 1% 1% 2%
Clackmannanshire * * * * * *
Dumfries & Galloway 84 258 2.7 2% 2% 4%
Dundee City 8 14 0.5 0% 0% 1%
East Ayrshire 0 1 * 0% 0% *
East Dunbartonshire * * * * * *
East Lothian 27 60 1.4 1% 1% 2%
East Renfrewshire * * * * * *
Falkirk * * 0.7 * * 1%
Fife 8 250 4.4 0% 2% 6%
Glasgow City 236 * 4.1 6% * 6%
Highland 218 614 9.2 5% 6% 12%
Inverclyde 42 139 1.7 1% 1% 2%
Midlothian * * * * * *
Moray 26 66 0.9 1% 1% 1%
Na H-Eileanan Siar 49 123 1.4 1% 1% 2%
North Ayrshire 66 101 1.6 2% 1% 2%
North Lanarkshire 8 22 0.2 0% 0% 0%
Orkney Islands 33 97 1.4 1% 1% 2%
Perth & Kinross 2 24 0.4 0% 0% 1%
Renfrewshire 37 71 1.6 1% 1% 2%
Scottish Borders 27 5 1.2 1% 0% 2%
Shetland Islands 141 308 2.1 3% 3% 3%
South Ayrshire 34 62 1.3 1% 1% 2%
South Lanarkshire 9 * 0.3 0% * 0%
Stirling 14 24 0.7 0% 0% 1%
West Dunbartonshire 22 35 0.5 1% 0% 1%
West Lothian 3 9 0.2 0% 0% 0%
Unallocated 358 2,250 2.2 8% 21% 3%
Scotland 4,294 10,780 74.2 100% 100% 100%

* Denotes disclosive data

GVA and employment in the marine sector is particularly important to rural economies. Figure 4 shows the proportion that the marine sector contributes to each local authority's GVA and employment. The marine sector contributes most to the Shetland Islands, accounting for 18% of the total GVA in Shetland and 16% of employment in 2018.

Figure 4: Percentage of overall employment and GVA accounted for by the marine sector by local authority,2018
Figure 4 – Two maps. The one on the left shows the percentage of overall employment accounted for by the marine sector by local authority in 2018. The one on the right shows the percentage of overall GVA accounted for by the marine sector by local authority in 2018

Scottish Government (Marine Scotland) 2020. Contains National Statistics data © Crown copyright and database right

Contact

Email: marineanalysis@gov.scot

Back to top