Fish landings at Peterhead Port have been very good in the first five months of the year, with the tonnage and value of whitefish, pelagic fish and shellfish all up on the same period in 2022.
-
Some Press and Journal online content is funded by outside parties. The revenue from this helps to sustain our independent news gathering. You will always know if you are reading paid-for material as it will be clearly labelled as “Partnership” on the site and on social media channels.
This can take two different forms.
“Presented by”
This means the content has been paid for and produced by the named advertiser.
“In partnership with”
This means the content has been paid for and approved by the named advertiser but written and edited by our own commercial content team.
Figures compiled by Peterhead Port Authority show that 89,256 tonnes of fish with a gross value of almost £96 million came over the quaysides prior to the end of May. This compares with 66,928 tonnes worth just over £82 million to May 2022.
Whitefish tonnage reached 20,978 (18,270 in 2022) worth £41,964,120 (£39,791,454 in 2022), reflecting some quota increases for key species.
Pelagic landings weighed in at 65,890 tonnes (46,332 in 2022) with a gross value of £47,226,145 (£36,953,131 in 2022).
And shellfish landings topped the scales at 2,388 tonnes, marginally up on 2022’s figures (2,326 tonnes) but with better prices yielding £6,787,060 compared with £5,611,996.
Peter Duncan, PPA Head of Fishing – Commercial, said: “Uplifts in quotas for several key commercial whitefish species have more than compensated for some spells of bad weather in the early part of the year.
“There are a lot of fish on the grounds, particularly small haddocks, which are proving to be a challenge, however, as the figures testify it has been a strong start to the year, with uplifts right across the sector in terms of tonnage and value.
“If these favourable conditions continue, we would expect a very strong year for landings at the port.”
Fishing News awards success
Staying on the fishing theme, it was a good night for Peterhead at the recent annual Fishing News awards ceremony in Aberdeen. Peterhead Port Authority sponsored the Over 10M Fisherman of the Year category, which was won by Darren McClements, skipper of the prawn trawler Golden Ray that fishes out of Portavogie in Northern Ireland.
And the town’s very own 18-year-old Harvey Buchan won the Young Fisherman of the Year award, sponsored by Seafish. Harvey works on the trawler Favonious PD 17 and hopes to be a skipper himself one day.
He said: “I had a great big smile on my face when my name was called. My family all jumped up, and there were a lot of people who I knew there as well all cheering me on.”
Harvey said that he wanted to thank his dad for “all the support and patience, and taking the time and showing me what to do”. “I also want to thank the crew of the boat as well for showing me everything they know. I’ve a lot of people to thank, really.”
Port representatives also attended the Skipper Expo event at P&J Live in Aberdeen in early May which attracted a big turnout of visitors.
A new version of the Port’s short film about fishing has been produced and is now available to view on Peterhead Port’s website.
