The UK fishing fleet generated around £1.5bn in income for the third consecutive year, new data from Seafish has found.
The fleet is also expected to have increased its operating profit by 26% between 2023 and 2024, rising from £267m to £337m, according to the Economics of the UK Fishing Fleet report.
The report, which also found that turnover rose to £1.2bn, presents economic estimates at UK, home nation and fleet segment level for the UK fishing fleet.
The estimates are calculated based on samples of fishing costs and earnings gathered by Seafish as part of the 2024 Annual Fleet Economic Survey.
The UK fishing fleet landed 716,000 tonnes of fish and shellfish in 2024, with mackerel the top species landed at 226,000 tonnes.
Landings increased by 15% over 2023, primarily due to higher catches of key pelagic species.
“Trends in fleet performance in 2024 were mixed and varied substantially according to the costs and earnings structures of each fleet segment,” said Dr Dana Wright, Seafish senior economist. “Increased landings and/or fish prices drove performance for some fleets, and most fleets benefited from lower fuel costs.”
The overall increase in turnover was mainly driven by the UK’s pelagic fleet, while other fleet segments such as nephrops, where income and profits declined, were not as positive, Seafish warned.
Economic performance for 37% of survey respondents across all fleet segments was poor or below average in the past 12 months, while only a quarter reported performance to be excellent or above average.
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