Scotland's Marine Economic Statistics 2023
Statistics on the economic contributions of Scotland’s marine sectors. Includes a time series of approximate Gross Value Added (aGVA), turnover and employment for industrial categories defined as part of the marine sector.
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Marine economy key points
In 2023, the Scottish marine economy generated £5.6 billion in aGVA. This accounted for 3% of the total Scottish economy. The Scottish marine economy provided employment for 75,900 people. This was 2.9% of the total Scottish employment.
While marine and coastal tourism employs the most people of all the sectors covered in this report, support for oil and gas has the biggest marine economy turnover and aGVA. Support for oil and gas provide 43% of the marine economy aGVA and 19% of the employment. Marine tourism provides 12% of the aGVA and 46% of the employment.
Labour productivity (aGVA per worker) varies across the marine economy. Freight water transport has the highest aGVA per worker in 2023 (around £298,000). Marine tourism has the lowest at around £20,000.
Economic information on oil and gas extraction is not included in this report. See Data and Methodology for more information.
Table 1. The support for oil and gas sector has the highest aGVA at £2.4 billion but marine tourism has the highest employment at 34,600 in 2023.
aGVA, turnover, employment and aGVA per head by marine sector, 2023
|
Marine sector |
aGVA (millions of pounds) |
Turnover (millions of pounds) |
Employment headcount (thousands) |
aGVA per head (pounds) |
|
Fishing |
394 |
693 |
3.8 |
103,791 |
|
Aquaculture |
468 |
1,196 |
2.2 |
212,545 |
|
Support for oil and gas |
2,414 |
4,233 |
14.6 |
165,370 |
|
Processing |
401 |
1,951 |
6.9 |
58,087 |
|
Ship building |
540 |
1,337 |
7.7 |
70,065 |
|
Construction and water transport services |
427 |
845 |
4.1 |
104,220 |
|
Passenger water transport |
131 |
335 |
1.3 |
100,923 |
|
Freight water transport |
149 |
331 |
0.5 |
298,000 |
|
Renting and leasing of water transport equipment |
16 |
32 |
0.2 |
79,000 |
|
Marine and coastal tourism |
699 |
1,359 |
34.6 |
20,197 |
|
Total |
5,639 |
12,313 |
75.9 |
74,297 |
Marine economy trends
Between 2022 and 2023, the marine economy’s aGVA increased by 4% from £5.4 billion to £5.6 billion (2023 prices). Employment increased by 6%.
Employment increased by 2% between 2014 and 2023, and the estimated full time equivalent (FTE) decreased by 3%. The FTE decrease is due to the different changes in employment by sector. Employment decreased in sectors, such as oil and gas services, which have more full-time employees. Whereas, employment increased in marine and coastal tourism, which has more part-time or seasonal work.
Table 2: Between 2014 and 2023 the marine economy aGVA fell by 10%. Employment increased by 2% between 2014 and 2023.
Marine economy aGVA, turnover and employment, 2014 to 2023 (2023 prices)
|
Year |
aGVA (millions of pounds) |
Turnover (millions of pounds) |
Employment headcount (thousands) |
Estimated FTE (thousands) |
|
2014 |
6,286 |
17,563 |
74.6 |
65.8 |
|
2015 |
6,034 |
17,014 |
78.7 |
68.8 |
|
2016 |
5,496 |
13,385 |
76.8 |
66.6 |
|
2017 |
6,434 |
14,427 |
75.1 |
65.0 |
|
2018 |
5,370 |
13,445 |
75.8 |
65.6 |
|
2019 |
6,046 |
13,935 |
76.1 |
64.6 |
|
2020 |
4,303 |
11,787 |
69.4 |
60.3 |
|
2021 |
4,970 |
11,438 |
70.5 |
60.3 |
|
2022 |
5,446 |
12,231 |
71.9 |
61.5 |
|
2023 |
5,639 |
12,313 |
75.9 |
63.9 |
aGVA increased for most marine sectors apart from support for oil and gas, seafood processing, passenger water transport and marine and coastal tourism between 2022 and 2023 (Figure 1). However, the aGVA in 2023 for all marine sectors, apart from fishing and support for oil and gas, was still lower than in 2019.
Figure 1. The aGVA for Seafood processing and passenger water transport fell between 2022 and 2023. Aquaculture and ship building had the largest increases.
Change in aGVA by marine sector in millions of pounds, 2022 to 2023
Marine economy by geography
Marine economic information is available for most local authorities, subject to confidentiality considerations. Aberdeen City accounted for £2 billion (41%) of Scotland’s marine economy’s aGVA for 2023 (Table 3).
Marine aGVA contributes most to Aberdeen City, accounting for 21% of their total aGVA in 2023 (Figure 2). Shetland Islands are second, with marine sectors also contributing 16% of their aGVA. Marine aGVA and employment is particularly important to rural economies.
Figure 2. Marine aGVA contributed most to the total aGVA in Aberdeen City in 2023. It accounted for 21% of the total aGVA.
Percentage of aGVA accounted for by the marine sector for the top 10 local authorities, 2023