Fishing - Scottish Economic Link licence condition: 2023 landings update

The Scottish Government has strengthened the economic link licence condition so that it delivers more benefits to Scotland and its fisheries-dependent areas. 

The licence condition covers the eight most important species, by landed value, into Scotland. These are herring, mackerel, nephrops, haddock, anglerfish, cod, hake and whiting (“the 8 key species”) and these account for 90% of the value of total landings by Scottish vessels of species managed by Total Allowable Catch. 

2023 Landings by 8 key species 

Updated economic link licence condition came into effect in January 2023, with transitional increases for the two pelagic species (mackerel and herring) between 2023 and 2025.  

The data used for this landings update are provisional figures for 2023 with quality assurance ongoing. As such, figures for 2023 may change once the final Sea Fisheries Statistics for 2023 are published later this year. 

The Scottish registered fleet landed over 90% of their landed tonnage of non-pelagic species (nephrops, haddock, anglerfish, cod, hake and whiting) into Scotland in 2023.

Landings of pelagic species (mackerel and herring) by the Scottish registered fleet saw their share of tonnage landed into Scotland increase, relative to 2022, with both species seeing over 50% of their tonnage landed into Scotland.

Landings (in tonnage) of mackerel increased both into Scotland and elsewhere, while herring landings decreased both into Scotland and elsewhere. The decrease in landings of herring is primarily due to the decrease in the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) for the North Sea stock but, despite the cut to TAC, the share of landings of herring into Scotland increased relative to 2022.

Landings (in tonnes) by Scottish registered vessels of 8 key species, 2022 to 2023(p) ​​​

Species	Landings into Scotland 2022 (thousands of tonnes)	Landings elsewhere 2022 (thousands of tonnes)	Landings into Scotland 2023 (p) (thousands of tonnes)	Landings elsewhere 2023 (p) (thousands of tonnes)
Cod	7	0	10	0
Haddock	27	0	33	0
Hake	5	0	3	0
Monks or Anglers	11	1	10	1
Whiting	9	0	10	0
Herring	39	33	37	28
Mackerel	83	90	101	89
Nephrops (Norway Lobster)	19	1	18	1

Note: (p) indicates that the data are provisional. 

Landings (in landed value) by Scottish registered vessels of 8 key species, 2022 to 2023(p) (adjusted to 2023 prices)

Species	Value of landings into Scotland 2022 (real terms) (millions of pounds)	Value of landings elsewhere 2022 (real terms) (millions of pounds)	Value of landings into Scotland 2023 (p) (millions of pounds)	Value of landings elsewhere 2023 (p) (millions of pounds)
Cod	27	0	34	1
Haddock	36	0	38	0
Hake	13	1	9	0
Monks or Anglers	36	2	31	1
Whiting	12	0	10	0
Herring	27	25	24	19
Mackerel	108	126	125	120
Nephrops (Norway Lobster)	86	2	76	3

Note: (p) indicates that the data are provisional. Value of landings are in real terms, after taking account of inflation by using 2023 calendar year GDP deflators.

2023 Landings of mackerel and herring by district 

The data used for this landings update are provisional figures for 2023 with quality assurance of this data ongoing. As such, figures for 2023 may change once the final Sea Fisheries Statistics for 2023 are published later this year. 

The increase in mackerel landings into Scottish ports occurred at both Shetland and Peterhead (the two major pelagic ports in Scotland), with close to 10 thousand tonnes extra landed into Peterhead and around 8 thousand tonnes extra (a 42% increase relative to 2022) landed into Shetland. 

Mackerel landings by Scottish registered vessels by country or district of landing, 2022 to 2023 (p) (adjusted to 2023 prices)

Landing district or country	Tonnage 2022 (thousands)	Tonnage 2023 (p) (thousands)	Value 2022 (real terms) (millions of pounds)	Value 2023 (p) (millions of pounds)
Denmark	12	8	17	11
Norway	77	80	109	107
Peterhead	64	74	82	90
Shetland	19	27	25	34

Note: (p) indicates that the data are provisional. Value of landings are in real terms, after taking account of inflation by using 2023 calendar year GDP deflators.  

Landings of herring increased at Peterhead only, with drops seen elsewhere in line with an overall drop in herring quota for Scottish registered vessels. As such it appears that only Peterhead directly benefited from the increase in share of herring landings in 2023.

Herring landings by Scottish registered vessels by country or district of landing, 2022 to 2023 (p) (adjusted to 2023 prices) 

Landing district or country	Tonnage 2022 (thousands)	Tonnage 2023 (p) (thousands)	Value 2022 (real terms) (millions of pounds)	Value 2023 (p) (millions of pounds)
Denmark	1	1	1	1
Norway	32	27	24	18
Peterhead	27	28	18	17
Shetland	11	9	9	6

Note: (p) indicates that the data are provisional. Value of landings are in real terms, after taking account of inflation by using 2023 calendar year GDP deflators.