Provisional Scottish Sea Fisheries Statistics 2015

Fish Quota Uptake

Uptake of quota was high for the major pelagic fish stocks; West of Scotland mackerel was over 102 per cent, while North Sea mackerel exceeded 96 per cent. North Sea Herring was over 101 per cent and West of Scotland herring was over 90 per cent uptake.

Quota uptake was 97 per cent and above for the key demersal fish stocks in the North Sea, with the exception of North Sea haddock (above 83 per cent), North Sea plaice (above 66 per cent) and North Sea megrim (above 53 per cent). The reason for the lower uptake of North Sea haddock in 2015 was due to larger haddock not being as prevalent in 2015 as they have been in previous years. West of Scotland quota uptake for haddock (area VIb), whiting, saithe and monkfish was over 96 per cent, while haddock (areas VIa, Vb) uptake was over 90 per cent.

In 2015, quota uptake for North Sea Nephrops was 64 per cent, while uptake for West of Scotland Nephrops was just under 76 per cent. In comparison to 2014, uptake for North Sea Nephrops was 17 percentage points lower and West of Scotland Nephrops was half a percentage point lower. This was due to a decrease in quota and a decrease in landings for both areas.