Economic impacts for Scottish and UK seafood industries post-Brexit: report

Appendix A: UK Fisheries, Aquaculture and Processing Sectors

The following provides a summary of UK and Scottish fisheries, aquaculture production and the fish processing industry.

A.1 UK landings and production

A.1.1 Landings

In 2015, the total volume of landings by UK vessels (into the UK and abroad) was 708,100 tonnes with a first sale value of £775.1 million ( MMO, 2016). The total volume of these landings into the UK was 415,700 tonnes with a total first sale value of £552.4 million. These landings comprised of 118,300 tonnes of demersal species (with a value of £208.8 million), 156,400 tonnes pelagic species (value £79.6 million) and 141,000 tonnes of shellfish (value £264 million). Scottish vessels contributed over 400,000 tonnes of UK landings as a result of relatively large amounts of mackerel landings ( MMO, 2016).

The total volume of the landings outside of the UK was 292,000 tonnes (134,000 tonnes of mostly mackerel were landed into Norway; 72,000 tonnes were landed into the Netherlands and 39,000 tonnes into Denmark) ( MMO, 2016).

Non- UK vessels also land into the UK, which may provide material for the UK processing sector. Non- UK vessels landed 46,000 tonnes of fish into the UK in 2015 with French and Irish-registered vessels landing the largest quantity (17,000 and 7,000 tonnes respectively). The majority of fish landed into the UK by foreign registered vessels were demersal (69 %) ( MMO, 2016).

The main demersal, pelagic and shellfish species of importance for the UK fleet, in terms of historic volumes and value of landings, are shown in Figure A.1. Key demersal species are cod, haddock and plaice (monks or anglers also make an important contribution in terms of value), while mackerel and herring are the main pelagic species landed and Nephrops, scallops and crabs are the three main species of shellfish landed. Of these species, mackerel and herring are of particular importance to the Scottish fleet.

Figure A.1. Landings of key demersal (top), pelagic (middle) and shellfish species (bottom) into the UK and abroad by UK vessels, by volume and value, between 1996 and 2015

A.1.2 Aquaculture production

The UK aquaculture industry produces salmon, trout and shellfish for table trade (consumption) as well as ornamental fish and trout and coarse fish (particularly carp) for restocking for sport angling. This overview will focus on sea-based finfish and shellfish species production for the table.

Finfish species farmed for the table in the UK include Atlantic salmon ( Salmo salar), rainbow trout ( Oncorhynchus mykiss), halibut ( Hippoglossus hippoglossus) and Arctic charr ( Salvelinus alpinus). Scotland dominate finfish production in the UK (currently there is no sea-based marine finfish production in England or Wales, whilst there are a few marine salmon farms in Northern Ireland) and the Scottish industry is dominated by Atlantic salmon production, with 171,722 tonnes produced in 2015 with a value of £637 million (Marine Scotland, 2016a).

Shellfish species farmed in the UK, include mussels ( Mytilus edulis), native oyster ( Ostrea edulis), Pacific oyster ( Crassostrea gigas), King scallop ( Pecten maximus) and Queen scallop ( Aequipecten opercularis). In Scotland, mussels are the main shellfish species produced in terms of both volume and value, followed by Pacific oysters (Marine Scotland, 2016b). The total volumes of finfish and shellfish produced between 2011 and 2015 by each Devolved Administration is shown in Table A.1.

Table A.1. UK aquaculture production (tonnes) (2011-2015)

Country	Aquaculture Type	Year
		2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Scotland	Finfish (Atlantic salmon)*	158,018	162,223	163,234	179,022	171,722
	Shellfish	7,285	6,525	6,935	7,980	7,506
Northern Ireland	Finfish (Atlantic salmon)*	c	c	c	c	c
	Shellfish	7,715	4,920	3,464	3,238	3,527
Wales	Finfish	-	-	-	-	-
	Shellfish	8,376	8,999	8,344	7,945	7,129
England	Finfish	-	-	-	-	-
	Shellfish	3,660	6,902	5,061	2,456	5,996

* Finfish production volumes only shown for Atlantic salmon and not other species (e.g. rainbow trout, halibut);

c Confidential due to the low number of producers;

- No sea-based production

Sources: Marine Scotland 2012a, b; 2013a, b; 2014a, b; 2015a ,b; 2016a, b; Cefas, 2015; unpublished data provided by Cefas

A.2 Fish processing in the UK

In 2014, turnover in the fish processing sector in the UK was £4,395 million and GVA was £776 million (of which £2,269 million turnover and £418 million GVA was in England, £2,038 million turnover and £341 million GVA was in Scotland and £84 million turnover and £17 million GVA was in Wales) (Seafish, 2016).

A.2.1 Sea fish

In 2014, turnover in the sea fish processing sector in the UK was £3,128 million and Gross Value Added ( GVA) was £554 million. £1,083 million turnover and £169 million GVA was in Scotland (Seafish, 2016)).

In 2016, there were 307 sites processing sea fish ^[23] (saltwater fish) in the UK, supporting a total of 13,554 FTE jobs. England accounted for 62% of the UK’s sea fish processing FTE jobs, while Scotland accounted for 35%, Northern Ireland 3% and Wales less than 1%. In 2016, the three regions with the highest proportion of sea fish processing FTE jobs were Humberside (36%), Grampian (25%) and South West England (10%) (Seafish, 2016). The lowest levels of processing activity were in Wales, Northern Ireland and the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. The regional distribution of processing sites and FTE jobs is shown in Figure A.2.

The majority of sea fish processing companies in the UK process a mixture of species ^[24] (49%), with 26% specialised in processing shellfish, 21% processing demersal species and 4% processing pelagic species. In the Highlands and Islands, Northern Ireland, Wales and Northern England and the South/Midlands, the majority of FTE jobs were related to shellfish processing in 2016, whereas in Humberside and South West England the majority of FTE jobs were related to processing of mixed species (Figure A.2).

Figure A.2. Sea fish processing: regional and home nation distribution

Reproduced from Seafish, 2016

A quarter of processing sites reported using imported raw materials, and although other sites may source material domestically some of it may be of imported origin (Seafish, 2016). Of 63 sites that provided information on the origin of raw material processed, 40 sites reported using over 50% imported raw material in value terms. Third countries are important for sourcing raw material for processing: 30 sites reported using ≥50% raw materials imported from the rest of the World (RoW), compared to 16 sites that reported using ≥50% raw material imported from the European Union (Seafish, 2016).

In Scotland, whitefish processing mainly takes place in the north-east. Pelagic processing, like whitefish processing, centres around the north-east but also takes place in Shetland, while shellfish processing takes place across all fishing areas and in the central belt (Scottish Government, 2012).

A.2.2 Salmon and freshwater fish ^[25]

Salmon is an increasingly large part of UK fish processing industry. The majority of salmon produced in Scotland is also processed in Scotland (Highlands and Islands Enterprise ( HIE) and Marine Scotland, 2017). The majority of sites (38) and FTE jobs (3,279) related to salmon and freshwater fish processing in the UK are based in Scotland, while England had 23 sites and 733 FTE jobs and Wales had under 5 sites and hence, due to confidentiality, statistics were not available. In contrast, large-scale processors in Grimsby use Norwegian and Chilean salmon to ensure continuity of supply to their customers largely due to constrained supply of Scottish salmon volumes. Salmon processing in Scotland is concentrated in the regions classified as ‘Other Scotland’ and ‘Highlands and Islands’, with 55% and 18% respectively of total salmon and freshwater processor FTE jobs (Seafish, 2016).

A.3 References

Cefas (2015). Aquaculture statistics for the UK, with a focus on England and Wales 2012.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise ( HIE) and Marine Scotland (2017). The Value of aquaculture to Scotland. A report for Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Marine Scotland. June 2017.

Marine Scotland (2012a). Scottish shellfish farm production survey 2011 report.

Marine Scotland (2012b). Scottish finfish farm production survey 2011 report.

Marine Scotland (2013a). Scottish shellfish farm production survey 2012 report.

Marine Scotland (2013b). Scottish finfish farm production survey 2012 report.

Marine Scotland (2014a). Scottish shellfish farm production survey 2013 report.

Marine Scotland (2014b). Scottish finfish farm production survey 2013 report.

Marine Scotland (2015a). Scottish shellfish farm production survey 2014 report.

Marine Scotland (2015b). Scottish finfish farm production survey 2014 report.

Marine Scotland (2016a). Scottish shellfish farm production survey 2015 report.

Marine Scotland (2016b). Scottish finfish farm production survey 2015 report.

MMO (2016). UK Sea Fisheries Statistics 2015.

Scottish Government (2012). Scottish Government, Seafood – Fish processors webpage: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Business-Industry/Food-Industry/Seafood/processors [accessed July 2017]

Seafish (2016). 2016 seafood processing industry report. Available online at: http://www.seafish.org/media/publications/2016_Seafood_Processing_Industry_Report.pdf