Scottish Sea Fisheries Statistics 2024
An Accredited Official Statistics publication that provides detailed information on the tonnage and value of landings, fishing vessel characteristics and employment.
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In 2024, 377 thousand tonnes of sea fish and shellfish with a value of £588 million were landed into Scotland. This represents a 13 per cent increase in tonnage and a four per cent increase in real terms value (adjusted to 2024 prices) from 2023.
Pelagic species accounted for 57 per cent of the tonnage landed into Scotland in 2024, whilst demersal species made up 31 per cent and shellfish species 12 per cent. By value in 2024, 37 per cent of landings into Scotland were demersal species, 36 per cent were pelagic species and 27 per cent were shellfish. 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 (Table 21).
Figures 2 and 3 show landings by all vessels into the eighteen Scottish port districts. The top three districts in Scotland by total tonnage landed were Peterhead (east coast), Shetland (northern island) and Scrabster (north-east coast). Peterhead is the single largest fishing port in Scotland by tonnage and value of landing. Information on landings into all the Scottish districts can be found in table 29.
Figure 2. Peterhead on the east coast of Scotland had the largest tonnage of landings, at 216 thousand tonnes in 2024.
Tonnage landed into Scotland by all vessels by district in 2024
Figure 3. Peterhead on the east coast of Scotland had the largest value of landings, at £249 million in 2024.
Value (thousands of pounds) landed into Scotland by all vessels by district in 2024.