Coronavirus (COVID-19): marine sectors - business survey

3. Survey Method

We ran three online surveys for two weeks during October 2020. An invitation to submit a response was distributed through different media channels by the Scottish Government's communications division and also promoted through engagement with stakeholder groups. These elicited 69 responses for the Sea Fisheries Survey, 62 for the recreational fisheries survey and 12 for the Aquaculture survey. According to Marine Scotland statistics there were 2,098 fishing vessels^[1] and 49 finfish and 129 shellfish aquaculture businesses in 2019^[2], the number of recreational fishing businesses is unknown. Whilst there are a large number of total aquaculture and sea fisheries businesses, our results are a good representation of the sector as many fishers own multiple vessels and the market for aquaculture is concentrated in a small number of large businesses.

The questions for the different surveys were developed in consultation with stakeholders and colleagues across Marine Scotland. The survey asks a number of multiple answers questions which means that some results do not add up to 100%.