Scotland's Marine Economic Statistics 2021

Key Points

Marine economy

Scotland's marine economy includes activities dependant on the marine environment. They provide an important source of income and employment across Scotland. There are signs that some parts of the marine economy are recovering from the impacts of Covid-19, however, there hasn't been a return to pre-pandemic levels:

• In 2021, the marine economy generated £4.5 billion in gross value added, 3% of the overall Scottish economy.
• In 2021, the marine economy employed 69,800 people (headcount), 2.7% of the total Scottish employment.
• Between 2020 and 2021, the marine economy's gross value added increased by 19%.
• The longer term trend shows that between 2012 and 2021 the marine economy gross value added fell by 18%.

Sector performance

The economic contribution of some sectors, such as aquaculture, increased over the past ten years. Other sectors, such as oil and gas support services, decreased their economic contribution over the past ten years. However, all sectors apart from construction and water transport services increased between 2020 and 2021. The main changes are:

• In the longer term, from 2012 to 2021, the gross value added from aquaculture increased by 154% to 472 million.
• The oil and gas support services gross value added decreased by 37% from 2012 to 2021.
• From 2020 to 2021, the gross value added from ship building increased by 50%.
• Construction and water transport services gross value added decreased by 35% from 2020 to 2021.
• Marine tourism gross value added increased by 41% from 2020 to 2021.
• The Scottish offshore wind sector, which is not included in the overall marine economy numbers, had an estimated turnover of £2.6 billion in 2021.
• From 2014 to 2021, the turnover from the Scottish offshore wind farm industry increased by 2275%.