Fish Landings from the UK Exclusive Economic Zone and UK Landings from the EU EEZ

An analysis of available data has been carried out to determine how much fish and shellfish are caught within the UK’s Exclusive Economic Zone (UK EEZ) by European Union fishing boats, and by UK boats in other areas of the EU EEZ.
The analysis used ‘official’ data published by the European Commission’s Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF) which probably represent the most comprehensive and detailed data information that are likely to be available on the distribution of catches by EU fishing boats.
The results of the analysis indicate that over the five year period from 2011 to 2015:
- Less than half of the fish and shellfish landed from the UK EEZ by EU fishing boats (43% by weight) was caught by UK boats.
- If landings by non-EU (Faroese and Norwegian) fishing boats are included, UK boats’ share of the total landings from the UK EEZ falls to less than one-third of the total (32% by weight).
- Non-UK European Union fishing boats landed about 700,000 tonnes of fish and shellfish, worth almost £530 million, from the UK EEZ each year on average.
- UK fishing boats landed 92,000 tonnes of fish and shellfish, worth about £110 million, from other areas of the EU EEZ each year on average.
- Non-UK EU fishing boats therefore landed almost eight times more fish and shellfish (by weight) from the UK EEZ than UK boats did from other areas of the EU EEZ, or almost five times more by value.
More detailed breakdowns of these results for species groups and for individual species are included in the report.