Scottish Sea Fisheries Statistics 2025

Sea fish and shellfish landings in 2025

The Scottish fishing industry value in 2025 was £885 million. This is the highest value (adjusted to 2025 prices) of the last ten years. A summary of the headline numbers are:

• Scottish vessels landed 479 thousand tonnes of sea fish and shellfish in 2025. A decrease of 10 per cent compared to 2024 but an increase of nine per cent compared to 2021.
• Scottish vessels landed £885 million of sea fish and shellfish in 2025. Adjusted to 2025 prices, this is an increase of 16 per cent compared to 2024, and of 28 percent compared to 2021.
• Scottish vessels landed 148 thousand tonnes of sea fish and shellfish worth £210 million abroad in 2025. Landings abroad make up 31 per cent of tonnage and 24 per cent by value.

Performance of each sector

The value of all three sectors increased between 2024 and 2025. The changes for each sector were:

• The value of pelagic landings, adjusted to 2025 prices, increased by 26 per cent.
• The value of shellfish landings, adjusted to 2025 prices, increased by seven per cent.
• The value of demersal landings, adjusted to 2025 prices, increased by five per cent.

The ten per cent decrease in tonnage landed by Scottish vessels between 2024 and 2025 results from a decrease in landings for the pelagic sector:

• Pelagic landings decreased by 17 per cent.
• Shellfish landings increased by 11 per cent.
• Demersal landings increased by three per cent.

Key species

• Mackerel remained the most valuable species in 2025 worth £405 million, making up 46 per cent of the total value of Scottish vessels’ landings.
• Haddock was the most valuable demersal species and represented five per cent of the total value of Scottish vessels’ landings.
• In 2025, 1,628 tonnes of creeled Nephrops were landed by Scottish vessels with a value of £18 million. 19 thousand tonnes of trawled Nephrops were landed worth £72 million.

The Scottish fishing fleet

The number of active Scottish vessels was 1,918 in 2025, a decrease of six per cent compared to 2016:

• The Scottish fleet is dominated by vessels that are 10 metres and under in length with a total of 1,439 vessels falling into this category in 2025. There are 479 over 10 metres vessels.
• Compared to 2016, the 10 metres and under fleet has decreased by two per cent while the over 10 metres fleet has decreased by 16 per cent.
• The 24 over 40 metres Scottish vessels make up just one per cent of the number of vessels but landed 55 per cent of the value of all landings and 99 per cent of the value of pelagic landings.

Employment on Scottish fishing vessels

• In 2025, 3,738 fishers were working on Scottish vessels, up 3 fishers compared to 2024.
• Since 2016, employment on Scottish vessels has fallen 16 per cent.