News / Industry out-fishes England, Wales & NI again
SHETLAND continued to land more fish than all of England, Wales and Northern Ireland put together in 2015, fresh statistics published by the NAFC Marine Centre show.
The analysis of official fisheries statistics by NAFC Marine Centre’s Dr Ian Napier also showed that one third of all the fish and shellfish caught in British waters were caught around Shetland.
With an economic contribution estimated at £310 million a year, the report estimates the seafood industry to be four times more valuable to the islands than the oil industry.
Dr Napier’s analysis found that 72,000 tonnes of fish and shellfish worth some £61 million were landed in Shetland in 2015.
That included around 16,000 tonnes of whitefish (including haddock, cod, monks and plaice) worth £26 million, 54,000 tonnes of pelagic fish (including mackerel and herring), and 1,900 tonnes of shellfish (such as crabs, lobsters, and scallops) worth £4 million.
It represents almost a quarter of all the fish and shellfish landed in Scotland, and 16 per cent of all landings in the UK, with more landed in Shetland than in any other port in the UK except for Peterhead.
Dr Napier also estimated that European Union fishing boats (including UK boats) caught about 450,000 tonnes of fish and shellfish worth more than £300 million in the waters around Shetland – a third of the total catch in UK waters.
Of that an estimated 260,000 tonnes, worth £200 million, was caught within 50 miles of Shetland – quarter of the total UK catch.
Shetland MSP Tavish Scott said the figures illustrated just how important fish is economically – describing it as “massively important to the wider Scottish and UK economies too”.
“As the annual EU fisheries negotiations appear over the horizon it is vitally important that the European Commission and both governments recognise Shetland’s dependency on fisheries and deliver a deal that supports the industry,” he said.
- You can read the full report Shetland Fisheries Statistics 2015 and a summary, Shetland Fishing Facts 2015, on the NAFC Marine Centre website at www.nafc.uhi.ac.uk/fish-stats.
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