A brief summary of some of the commercial fishing statistics published by Scotland’s Chief Statistician show:

1. The increase in landings by Scottish vessels in 2008 relative to 2007 was +1% in real terms for value (£396 million) and volume (371 thousand tonnes).
2. As a proportion of all landings by Scottish-based vessels in 2008 (note all values are in real terms and compared to 2007)
   1. Shellfish landings were 39% by value and 17% by volume with a total value of £155 million (-7%) for 65 thousand tonnes (-3%) landed.
   2. Demersal species made up 35% by value and 27% by volume, with a total value of £139 million (+5%) for 100 thousand tonnes landed (+5%).
   3. Pelagic species made up 26% by value and 56% by volume, with a total value of £101 million (+9%) for 207 thousand tonnes landed (+9%).
3. Nephrops worth £90 million is the most valuable single species to the Scottish fleet. However as prices per tonne were  -7% their value was -£13 million (at 2008 prices) resulting in a fall of £11 million (-7%) in the value of shellfish landings.
4. Mackerel at £86 million is the second most valuable species to the Scottish fleet. The volume remained steady but prices/tonne were +19%, giving +20% in value.
5. Between 2007 and 2008, there was a 36 per cent increase in the volume of landings made abroad by Scottish vessels with an estimated value of £53 million which was £12 million (+29%) higher than in the previous year. This was due to an increase in the volume of mackerel landed abroad, up by 9 thousand tonnes (+50%) from 2007.
6. Active fishing vessels based in Scotland increased by 14 to 2,205 at the end of 2008. Over 10m vessels were up 16 vessels, under 10m vessels decreased by 2.
7. Whitefish effort by the over 10 metre fleet stood at 12.2 million kWdays (+10%) in the North Sea, and remained around 2.0 million kWdays in the West of Scotland.
8. Nephrops effort was steady both in the North Sea (9.2million kWdays) and in the West of Scotland (4.8 million kW days) in 2008.

Uptake of quota was high – 100% for West of Scotland Cod, close to 100% for five of the other key demersal stocks (North Sea Cod, North Sea Saithe, North Sea Whiting, North Sea Plaice and West of Scotland Monkfish), North Sea Herring, West of Scotland Herring and West of Scotland Mackerel; North Sea Monkfish was 95% and North Sea Mackerel was nearly 90%.

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