Scotland's Marine Economic Statistics 2020

Statistics on the economic contributions of Scotland’s marine sectors in 2020. Includes a time series of Gross Value Added (GVA), turnover and employment for marine sectors. The supporting documents include: additional tables in an excel file and a pdf version of the publication.


Marine economy overview

Marine economy key points

In 2020, the Scottish marine economy generated £4 billion in GVA. This accounted for 2.8% of the total Scottish economy. The Scottish marine economy provided employment for 68,600 people. This was 2.6% of the total Scottish employment.

Support for oil and gas has the biggest marine economy turnover and GVA. But, marine tourism employs the most people of all the sectors covered in this report. Support for oil and gas provide 43% of the marine economy GVA. But, only 22% of the employment. Marine tourism provides 9% of the GVA and 39% of the employment.

Labour productivity (GVA per worker) varies across the marine economy. Freight water transport has the highest GVA per worker in 2020 (around £194,000). Marine tourism has the lowest at around £14,000.

Economic information on oil and gas extraction is not included in this report. See Annex for more information.

Table 1. GVA, turnover, employment and GVA per head by marine sector, 2020
Marine sector GVA (millions of pounds) Turnover (millions of pounds) Employment headcount (thousands) GVA per head (pounds)
Fishing 284 512 4.3 65,774
Aquaculture 362 967 2.4 151,565
Support for oil and gas 1,692 4,710 15.0 112,773
Seafood processing 355 1,700 7.2 49,347
Shipbuilding 262 874 6.7 39,134
Construction and water transport services 408 612 4.3 94,930
Passenger water transport 75 272 1.6 47,000
Freight water transport 97 219 0.5 194,000
Renting and leasing of water transport equipment 9 15 0.1 90,000
Marine tourism 360 709 26.5 13,574
Total 3,904 10,589 68.6 56,910

Marine economy trends

Between 2019 and 2020, the marine economy's GVA decreased by 27% from £5.4 billion to £3.9 billion (2020 prices). Employment decreased by 9%. This decrease is the result of the lockdowns and restrictions imposed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Table 2 shows the longer term trend in the marine economy. Between 2011 and 2020 the marine economy GVA fell by 24%. Employment decreased by 1% between 2011 and 2020.

Table 2: Marine GVA, turnover and employment, 2011 to 2020 (2020 prices)
Year GVA (millions of pounds) Turnover (millions of pounds) Employment headcount (thousands)
2011 5,163 13,815 69.4
2012 5,515 14,264 69.3
2013 5,524 14,789 73.5
2014 5,579 15,586 74.6
2015 5,361 15,116 78.7
2016 4,860 11,853 75.7
2017 5,695 12,788 74.1
2018 4,748 11,899 74.7
2019 5,359 12,360 75.3
2020 3,904 10,589 68.6

Figure 1 shows the change in GVA from 2019 to 2020. The GVA of all marine sectors fell between 2019 and 2020. Support for oil and gas and marine tourism had the largest decreases. The figures for the marine economy by sector are in Table 20.

Figure 1. Change in GVA by marine sector in millions of pounds, 2019 to 2020
Chart showing the changes in GVA in the marine sectors in millions of pounds between 2019 and 2020. The largest decreases were in Support for oil and gas and Marine Tourism. No sectors had an increase in GVA between 2019 and 2020.

Marine economy by geography

Marine economic information is available for most local authorities, subject to confidentiality considerations. Aberdeen City accounted for £1.4 billion (37%) of Scotland's marine economy's GVA for 2020 (Table 3).

Marine GVA and employment is particularly important to rural economies. Marine GVA contributes most to Aberdeen City, accounting for 15% of their total GVA in 2020 (Figure 2). Shetland Islands are a close second, with marine sectors contributing 14% of their GVA.

Figure 2. Percentage of GVA accounted for by the marine sector for the top 10 local authorities, 2020
Chart showing the top 10 local authorities by percentage of GVA that was from marine activities. Aberdeen City is the top with 15% of GVA coming from marine sectors. Closely followed by Shetland at 14%.

Contact

Email: MarineAnalyticalUnit@gov.scot

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