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Despite a drop in landings due to quota cuts, mackerel remained the UK’s biggest earner netting £76.5m in 2019
Cod followed haddock landings when 22,051 tonnes netted £47.5m. This was down on 2018 when 24,555 tonnes was landed for a value of £54.4m, a loss in earnings of £7.9m. Prices per tonne increased from £2,300 in 2018 to £2,752 in 2019.
Monk/Anglerfish was another big earner in 2019, bringing in £42.7m for 14,563 tonnes of fish at £3,110 per tonne.
In the earning rankings, hake followed with a value £24.1m at £2,427 per tonne for 10,024 tonnes. Whiting earned £16m in 2019 with 12,522 tonnes landed at £1,247 per tonne. The value of saithe landed was £12.6m at £988 per tonne for 12,955 tonnes.
The top five most expensive fish per tonne in 2019 was:
Sea bass on ice. At 10,253 per tonne in 2019 it was the third most expensive demersal species
1/. Sole which came in with an average price of £11,773 per tonne earning £18.65m for 1,584 tonnes. This was an increase from the 2018 price when sole was worth £10,295 per tonne;
2/. Turbot prices per tonne was £10,471, with 514 tonnes landed for a value of £5.4m;
3/. Bass prices per tonne was £10,253 and 408 tonnes was landed for a value of £4.2m;
4/. Halibut prices came in at £7,434 per tonne with 242 tonnes landed for £1.8m.
5/. Brill prices for 2019 was £6,999 per tonne and 334 tonnes was landed for £2.3m.
Pelagic Landings 2019
2019 saw 118,268 tonnes of pelagic stocks landed into UK fishing ports earning an overall value of over £100m. This was less than 2018 figures when 160,541 tonnes was landed to a value of £120.5m.
Prices for herring increased in 2019 to £505pt
Mackerel landings dropped significantly in 2019 from 80,080 tonnes in 2018 to 61,527 tonnes in 2019. This caused the value of landings to drop £18m from £94.5m to £76.5m. The price for mackerel in 2019 increased from £1,180 per tonne in 2018 to £1,243 per tonne.
Herring landings netted £17.5m in 2019 with 34,560 tonnes landed at an average of £505 per tonne; up on 2018’s price of £364 per tonne.
Blue Whiting landings of 9,313 tonnes at £188 per tonne earned £1.75m while 6,976 tonnes of sardines earned £2.4m with prices per tonne at £340. 2,484 tonnes of horse mackerel was landed to a value of £1.84m making an average price of £742 per tonne in 2019.
Shellfish Landings:
Nephrops, crabs and scallops were the big earners in the shellfish sector for 2019. In total, 134,547 tonnes of shellfish was landed with a value of £341.9m shared across the fleet.
These figures are an increase on 2018, when 120,851 tonnes was landed to an overall value of £325m.
The value of nephrops landed in 2019 was £103m for 33,970 tonnes landed at prices of £3,039 per tonne. In 2018 24,762 tonnes earned £78.6m with similar prices.
Crab landings were worth £67.5m in 2019
Crab landings earned £67.5m when 29,348 tonnes was landed at an average price of £2,351 per tonne. In 2018 crab landings of 28,396 tonnes were landed to a value of £68m making prices of £2,396 per tonnes.
27,948 tonnes of scallops were landed in 2019 earning £56.8m with prices coming in on average at £2,040 per tonne.
Whelks was another big earner with £25.5m for 20,015 tonnes gathered making prices of £1308 per tonne.
The most valuable shellfish in 2019 remained the lobster with average prices per tonne of £13,281. This was down on 2018 prices of £14,497 per tonne.
Lobster was followed as the most expensive shellfish by nephrops and squid; which made prices of £4,183 per tonne.
