Scotland's Marine Economic Statistics 2020

Fishing

This fishing section covers commercial sea fishing only. Fishing is important to Scotland's rural and coastal economies. It feeds into Scotland's food and drink economy and provides rural employment. Fishing economic data comes from the Seafish survey. Employment figures come from Scottish Sea Fisheries Statistics. These sources are more complete than the Scottish Annual Business Statistics. See Annex for more information.

In 2020, fishing generated £284 million GVA, 0.2% of the Scottish economy and 7% of the marine economy GVA. Fishing employed 4,311 people, 0.16% of Scottish employment and 6% of marine economy employment.

From 2019 to 2020, the GVA from fishing (adjusted to 2020 prices) decreased by 19%. The longer term trend from 2011 to 2020, showed that fishing GVA increased by 5%. From 2011 to 2020, employment fell by 4%.

Fishing GVA depends on the price and weight of fish landed. A quota set for some fish species limits the amount caught. So, quota changes can cause large changes in the weight, value and GVA of fishing. Additionally, Covid-19 restrictions impacted on many vessels ability to land and sell fish in 2020. Between 2019 and 2020, the weight of fish landed increased by 2% but the value decreased by 21%. More information on fish landings is in the Scottish Sea Fisheries Statistics publication.

Aberdeenshire had the highest fishing GVA at £148 million in 2020 (Figure 3). This is 52% of all fishing GVA. Aberdeenshire includes Peterhead, the largest UK fishing port.