In 2023, there were around 10,000 registered commercial fishermen,
a decline of over 2000 in 10 years.
85% of seafood caught in the UK is exported
The UK imports almost all of the seafood it eats
In 2023*, there were around 10,000 registered commercial fishermen in the UK, in 1938 there were around 40,000. You might think, maybe the UK’s love for seafood has dwindled, but it’s not that.
Early fisheries records are patchy but we know in 1945 we landed around 500,000 tonnes of finfish and we imported 280,000 tonnes of seafood.
In 2023 we landed just over 700,000 tonnes of seafood and we imported 611,000 tonnes of seafood products.
So if we’re eating more seafood as a nation, why is our commercial fishing industry slowly dying?
Mismanagement. Over and over again.
🐟 Of the top five species eaten by the UK, four of them are imported.
🦞 The most sustainable and lowest impact vessels are under 15m, yet our landings are dominated by industrial fishing boats and though under 10m vessels make up 79% of the fleet, they get less than 5% of the UK’s allocated fishing quota.
🐟 Historically quotas have been too high, and repeatedly ignored inshore fishermen’s warnings and scientists data analysis, time and time again the small vessel voices were drowned out by big company lobbyists, and we moved from sustainable, easy to manage, lower impact vessels and fishing techniques to industrial factory vessels, with minimal fishermen required to operate but so big they have their own fork lift trucks for use inside their onboard fish freezers, indiscriminately taking thousands of tonnes of fish at a time.
🦞 Fishing licences were given out by the government for free, but included no proper systems or rules on what happened to a licence when a fishermen died, or decided they no longer wanted to commercially fish. So licences were sold, or traded, or hoarded by larger companies to prevent competition or kept by individual fishermen hoping for something to help them survive retirement, or bought up by foreign companies.
And that’s just part of it. The earliest forms of fisheries management in the UK were in the 14th century; that’s a lot of getting it wrong between then and now.
Yet it’s always the fishermen we blame. These stewards of the ocean, many with generations of connection to the sea, are the ones we’ve demonised and chastised. Though i’m yet to meet a fishermen who isn’t passionate about the ocean and its health, I have met many who are tired of their knowledge being ignored, and of being blamed for working within failing regulations and systems they had no hand in creating.
It’s important as a nation we understand the true issues of our commercial fishing industry; and who’s really to blame for them, so we can direct our energies where it’s most powerful. We need to learn how to support the smaller, lower impact fishing vessels, or one day we’ll turn around to empty harbours, dead coastal towns and months old imported frozen seafood portions, and wonder how did our once glorious fishing industry die before our eyes?
To get us started on our journey to seafood enlightenment, I’ve created a Youtube video covering 9 facts about UK seafood and commercial fishing.
we need to talk about commercial fishing
Video transcript
In 2022 there were around 10,000 commercial fishermen in the UK, But their numbers have been reducing, and have declined by over 2000 during the last 10 years, losing predominantly single manned under 12m vessels.
There are around 5500 fishing vessels that hold a commercial fishing licence in the UK, with nearly 80% of them being under 10m In length.
Despite making the majority, around 85% of the seafood landed in the UK, is done so by vessels over 10m in length.
On a whole, the narrative is that larger vessels catch more fish because they are more capable, able to stay at sea for longer and catch larger amounts at a time which whilst true, is not the full extent of the issue.
Larger vessels can catch more fish because they are literally allowed to do so, over 10m vessels despite, making up only 21% of the UK fleet, are allocated 95% of the UKs fishing quota.
Quota disparity is a real issue for the survival of the smaller, more sustainable, inshore fishermen, and is a topic we’ll cover further in future videos!
So what seafood does the UK eat?
The top 5 species make up 85% of the seafood consumed, and unfortunately despite the fact the UK fleet landed 680,000 tonnes of seafood in 2023, the top 5 species landed doesn’t match the top 5 eaten in the UK.
This makes The uk a net importer of seafood products – which means they import more than they export.
The top 5 species imported, matches the top 5 species eaten. Highlighting a need for us to learn how to swap out our past favourites for options coming from UK waters, caught by UK fishermen.
But why do these facts matter?
It’s important that we understand what’s happening with and to our fishing industry, this allows us to drive the market – by supporting the sustainable fishing that is currently happening, it increases demand for sustainable seafood products, which in turn drives innovation and further adoption of sustainable methods
To transition to even mbetter sustainable management the fishing industry will need support,
We can support them by purchasing local, and by purchasing seafood products that utilise lower impact methods.
If you’ve enjoyed this video and want to learn more about the UKs fishing industry, look out for our ‘fisheries 101’ series on our YouTube channel or head to anoceanwarrior.com and sign up for the newsletter to be sure to receive the latest ocean science content!
Thank you to all my subscribers, and I’ll see you next time, Ocean Warrior!
*fisheries statistics are released in December for the year before for example December 2025 will release 2024s data.