r/Scotland • u/abz_eng ME/CFS Sufferer • 12h ago
Anger after Norwegian trawler lands half of Shetland’s saithe quota in one trip
https://www.shetnews.co.uk/2026/10/14/anger-norwegian-trawler-lands-half/115
u/LordOfRuinsOtherSelf 10h ago
Trawling should be banned.
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u/Wee-little-weegee 10h ago
Fishing in general.
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u/deano-1414 9h ago
And what do we replace this vital food source with?
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u/Wee-little-weegee 8h ago
Plant based food is the way of the future. Plenty of people already survive without fish.
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u/He_is_Spartacus I <3 Dundee 7h ago
The future is not now, and it would take a lot of time to adjust to a world without fish to eat. Best to start with the most heinous and damaging i.e. trawling
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u/spacewood 9h ago
The sheer weight of the fish being hauled would crush thousands at the bottom of the net making tonnes of waste
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u/Scared_Comparison_22 9h ago
Don't worry they'll mush them into fishmeal and add it to pet food and fertilisers
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u/ewankenobi 10h ago
Not that I was a supporter of Brexit, but wasn't this an issue Brexit was meant to solve?
Seems this is a recent deal. Why did Labour agree to it?
Also never seen saithe on a menu before, but after googling it discovered it's also known as coley which I'm sure I have seen on restaurant menus. If anyone else is curious apparently it's part of the pollock family and has a stronger flavour than most white fish.
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u/Sburns85 10h ago
Coley used to be used as a cheap substitute for cod and haddock. It’s similar flavour but bigger fillets than haddock. Darker flesh when raw. Source I am a fishmonger
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u/monkeyshoulder22 9h ago
We take coley, redfish, monkfish to France. Pretty much no market in the UK for them although monks are getting more popular.
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u/Acceptable-Swan-4206 9h ago
I love monkfish, regularly pop down my local fishmongers for a couple of fillets.
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u/Zestyclose-Turn-3576 11h ago
I've always wondered why the UK doesn't have these huge trawlers. Or do they?
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u/Quangocrat 10h ago
A line of EU caselaw which absolutely hobbled our attempt to regulate them out of existence.
We were well on our way to excluding them completely comparatively early before we were prevented from doing so and first Spanish, and then other, mass trawler fleets moved in and collapsed our industry.
The cases are called Factortame. They used to be taught as the archetypal example of Judicial Activism.
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u/Plus_Pangolin_8924 🏴 Something, Something SNP 11h ago
We started to but then the quotas were tightened and policed hard.
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u/Skyremmer102 11h ago
England doesn't have a massive fishing industry; it's something like 2.7% of the UK's fishing fleet whereas Scotland has nearly 90% of the total UK fleet. However, Westminster is not known for its awareness or inclination to fight Scotland's corner, so to speak, so Scotland's fishing industry gets shafted.
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u/Synthia_of_Kaztropol The capital of Scotland is S 10h ago
do you have a source for those figures ?
house of commons figures appear to show a very different pattern. The 2025 figures showing that the fleet based in Scotland landed £700m, that in England £300m, NI was £73m and Wales £11m. Employment was 3024 in Scotland, 2435 in England, 482 in NI and 102 in Wales. Number of vessels was 1634 in England, 1520 in Scotland, 190 in Wales, 175 in NI. The Scottish fleet has more large boats, 119 vs 70 for everywhere else combined though. Figures from here: https://www.seafish.org/document/?id=37874
What they catch is very different.
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u/d_devoy 11h ago
Games workshop the miniature model company is a bigger employer and money maker than all UK fishing. It's wild.
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u/AltruisticLog4450 11h ago
Catch Fleet (Fishers) Around 10,000 to 11,000 headcount or approximately 6,500 Full-Time Equivalent.
Aquaculture (Fish & Shellfish Farming): Around 5,000 to 5,300 people.
Games Workshop employs around 2,000 to 2,200 people in the UK, out of its total global workforce of approximately 3,300 employees.
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u/cCmndhd 11h ago
Fascinating. Do you have the actual numbers to hand?
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u/Synthia_of_Kaztropol The capital of Scotland is S 11h ago
It's not quite like that.
GW has an income of ~ £600m, pretax profits of >£150m, and employs several thousand people.
The entire UK fishing industry lands about £1bn of fish, and employs a couple of tens of thousands, throughout the supply chain.
GW is bigger than the Scottish fishing industry, but not the UK fishing industry as a whole.
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u/magammon 10h ago
it’s not fair to compare just games workshop and the the whole fishing industry supply chain. assuming GW has a supply stream at least up the value stream.
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u/Synthia_of_Kaztropol The capital of Scotland is S 10h ago
it was difficult to find up to date figures. And I typed that before I found some good ones for the size of the fishing industry.
GW seems like it is more profitable though.
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u/Sburns85 10h ago
Gw is more profitable than uks fishing fleet. And if we just use black library there publishing arm. That’s more profitable than Scotlands fleet
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u/magammon 9h ago
oh yes - and you won’t catch me doing the research! Thank you for your efforts despite my criticism.
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u/Careless_Main3 7h ago
It is fair because £1 billion is just the landed fishing value. It doesn’t include the value of processing, packaging etc.
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u/Just_passing-55 10h ago
"Games Workshop is the 77th biggest company in the UK by market capitalisation, and worth more than many British businesses such as Burberry, Whitbread and Barratt homes. The fact not many people are aware of its success reflects a wider underestimation of the economic impact of the UK games industry, which is bigger than the fishing and steel industries" I think its confused with the games industry as a whole. It is however, worth a lot of monies article
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u/Careless_Main3 7h ago
This isn’t true and the myth originates from people confusing what market capitalisation is.
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u/purple-bellend 10h ago
Youre woefully incorrect with your numbers. Whilst big scottish boats catch more fish, England has around 2,035 vessels (47% of uk total) and 4,900 fishermen vs 1,458 vessels (37%) and 4,300 fishermen in Scotland.
Now go and look at which country has most of the UK quota. If anything, the small scale English fishermen are the ones that have been shafted by government policies.
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u/Careless_Main3 7h ago
English fishermen were notoriously shafted by the EU because the CFP primarily distributed fish in English waters to EU fisheries.
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u/monkeyshoulder22 9h ago
Yes we do, huge ones in Fraserburgh. Can bring on 2000+tonnes in one go.
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u/geebeetee 7h ago
The big pelagic purse boats in the NE, ballys, cherries, Cowes/slaters back in the day held about 80% of the uk pelagic quotas. May have changed now though
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u/AnAncientOne 11h ago
I'm guessing there's not much the Scottish Government can do about this as it's a negotiation between Norways Government and the UK
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u/Prestigious_Sell9516 10h ago
Doesn't seem like this is a future proof industry - unless you like eating marine ticks.
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u/PantodonBuchholzi 8h ago
Who eats coley anyway? I fish myself and tried it, it is hardly the best fish in our waters.
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u/lifeisaman 11h ago
The SNP don’t care there isn’t a fishing industry in their beloved central belt.
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u/MR9009 11h ago
What does international fishing agreements have to do with the Scottish Parliament? Blame Westminster e.g.
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u/lifeisaman 11h ago
Under the Scotland Act 1998, sea fisheries management is largely devolved.
Westminster set the quota Holyrood has authority over who gets what in Scottish waters. Try avoid blaming others for problems created by nationalists.
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u/MR9009 11h ago
No. International negotiations on how much Norway can catch is set by international agreement i.e it is reserved. Then the operation of the deal in Scottish waters is devolved. The fact that a shitty deal is handed to Edinburgh to “manage” isn’t going to make the fishing numbers go up.
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u/lifeisaman 11h ago
The deal isn’t that bad the real issue is that Uk fisheries don’t take advantage of the deal as much as Norwegians do given both sides have an equal quota for it just the Norwegians actually use it.
No one distributes the licensees in Scotland except Holyrood so stop blaming others for issues created by nationalists.
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u/Efficient_Basis_2139 Aberdeenshire 11h ago
Which nationalists made the deal again? Oh right.
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u/lifeisaman 11h ago
Nationalist in Holyrood control the licensees in Scottish waters, stop trying to blame shift and realise the SNP doesn’t care about Scotland outside the belt.
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u/Efficient_Basis_2139 Aberdeenshire 10h ago
Buddy, all you are doing is explaining to everyone that you 1. Didn't read the article. And 2. Don't know what you are talking about.
Seriously, what's the point?
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u/lifeisaman 10h ago
I’ve read the article and unlike you I actually understand the fishing license system to a minimum degree, Westminster sets the total it’s Holyrood who decide how it’s divided.
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u/Efficient_Basis_2139 Aberdeenshire 10h ago
Let's try again then. This issue is specifically about the Framework Agreement on Fisheries between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Kingdom of Norway, agreed in 2020. Please explain, since you haven't been able to so far, exactly how nationalists or SNP have any involvement in this.
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u/TonsAgain2 11h ago
Stop the violence and leave the fish in the sea. Land animals should stick to their own element and leave sea animals in peace
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u/abz_eng ME/CFS Sufferer 11h ago
That's about 30 artics worth - that's not what people think of when they thing of a fishing boat