The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) has published its annual UK Sea Fisheries Statistics 2021, with the Scottish Government also doing so for Scotland.

The publication is a summary of:

• The UK fishing fleet
• Its activity at sea
• Landings – how much fish they catch and land
• Effort – how long they spend at sea
• Trade 

Key statistics include:

Fleet

In 2021 there were 5,783 United Kingdom registered fishing vessels. This represents a 10 per cent reduction in the last ten years, however Gross Tonnage (GT) has remained the same at 202 thousand tonnes.

Approximately 20 per cent of the United Kingdom fleet is represented by vessels over 10 metres in length, of which 44 per cent are administered in Scotland.

There are around 11 thousand fishers working on United Kingdom registered vessels. This is a reduction of 1,700 fishers in the last ten years.

 Landings

In 2021, United Kingdom vessels landed 652 thousand tonnes of sea fish with a value of £921 million. Compared to 2020, this is an increase of 5 per cent and 11 per cent in quantity and value respectively. This is mainly driven by the United Kingdom’s recovery from the covid period and additional quota available to the United Kingdom fleet after leaving the EU.

Landings into the United Kingdom by foreign vessels in 2021 was 20 thousand tonnes, which compared to 2020 represents a 48 per cent reduction, however landings abroad by United Kingdom vessels has increased by 5 per cent to 258 thousand tonnes.

Trade

The United Kingdom is a net importer of fish. The United Kingdom’s crude trade gap in 2021 for sea fish is 305 thousand tonnes. This is higher than 2020 where the gap was 250 thousand tonnes.

In 2021 the United Kingdom imported 655 thousand tonnes of sea fish, with a value of £3.1 billion. It exported 350 thousand tonnes, with a value of £1.6 billion.

Scotland

Simultaneously, the Scottish Government has published the Scottish Sea Fisheries Statistics 2021. Here is an an overview of the statistics:

• Landings by Scottish registered vessels: 437,203 tonnes (10% increase) worth £560 Million (15% increase)
• Three most valuable species are Mackerel, Nephrops and Monkfish.
• % of total value landed

• • Mackerel 37%
  • Other pelagic 9%
  • Monkfish 6%
  • Other demersal 20%
  • Nephrops 13%
  • Other shellfish 15%

• 2,082 Active Scottish registered vessels
• 509 over 10 metre vessels
• 1,573 10 metre and under vessels
• 4,241 Fishers employed
• Irregulary employed 18% (755)
• Regularly employed 82% (3,486)

Links

The press release from the MMO can be read here. You can view the full report, tables and underlying datasets here.

The figures from Scotland can be found here on the Scottish Government website.