The statistics show that 370 thousand tonnes of fish were caught by Scottish vessels last year, with a value of £380 million.

Other main findings are as follows.

Landings by Scottish based vessels:

. The value of shellfish landings increased by 16 per cent to £163 million and the volume increased by 13 per cent to 67 thousand tonnes.

. High value shellfish landings formed 18 per cent of the total by weight, but 42 per cent by value, making shellfish the most valuable sector to the Scottish fleet.

. The value of demersal landings decreased by 4 per cent to £130 million and the volume of landings decreased by 5 per cent to 89 thousand tonnes.

. Demersal landings made up 34 per cent of the total value and 24 per cent of the total volume.

. The 2007 pelagic landings have been affected by the repayment arrangements agreed with the Commission for historic undeclared landings of herring and mackerel. Under administrative arrangements, repayment started in 2006 and continued into 2007.

. The volume of pelagic species landed decreased by 5 per cent to 213

thousand tonnes. Although prices per tonne landed increased, the value

landed decreased by 1 per cent to £91 million.

. Pelagic landings made up 24 per cent of the total value and 58 per cent of the total volume.

Scottish Fishing Fleet:

. There were 2,191 active fishing vessels based in Scotland at the end of 2007, a net reduction of 33 (one per cent) since 2006.

. Since 2000, the number of over 10m vessels has decreased reflecting the impact of two decommissioning schemes in 2001 and 2003 which gave grants to owners in the Scottish whitefish fleet to decommission their vessel and surrender their fishing licence.

. The over 10 metres fleet decreased by nine vessels (one per cent) in 2007 to 697. This segment is now 27 per cent smaller than in 2000, a trend which has affected the demersal (down 37 per cent), pelagic (down 42 per cent) and shellfish (down 14 per cent) sectors.

. The under 10 metre segment of the fleet decreased by 24 vessels (two per cent) to 1,494 over the year.

Employment:

. The provisional employment figures indicate an increase in the number of fishermen of 4 per cent between 2006 to 2007 to reach 5,435.

Quota Uptake:

. UK Quota uptake reached 90 per cent or more for four of the most important demersal stocks (NS Cod, NS Saithe, NS Plaice, NS Monks), just exceeding 100 per cent for NS Plaice and NS Cod. Quota uptake was greater than 80 per cent for WS Cod, NS Whiting, WS Monks and NS Nephrops, and greater than 70 per cent for NS Haddock and WS Nephrops.

. Quota uptake for the four most important pelagic stocks continued to be high in 2007, approaching 100 percent for NS Herring, WS Herring and WS Mackerel and exceeding 90 percent for NS Mackerel.

www.fishupdate.com is published by Special Publications. Special Publications also publish FISHupdate magazine, Fish Farmer, the Fish Industry Yearbook, the Scottish Seafood Processors Federation Diary, the Fish Farmer Handbook and a range of wallplanners.

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