Scotland has long had an association with the sea and fishing, as an island you would expect nothing else but for centuries it’s relationship has been a success commercially as the country possessed a fishing fleet, the envy of the world catching shellfish and whitefish for dinner tables here and for restautants around Europe. This relationship still remains a reality today but Scotlands fishing industry experienced a malaise and as it has had to compete with European boats which fish our seas. As well as the quota and tie up system whereby boats are limited on days at sea, the limits on certain specias such as Cod, which has been taqrgetted for many decades by fleets and has saw its catch numbers fall. In recent years the cod numbers has been protected with the implementation of the European "Cod Recovery Plan " this has caused whitefish or Demersal fleet to fall by more than half from 800 vessels to around 350.
In 2009 there were around 5,448 fishermen fishing in Scottish waters, a drop of 26 per cent since 1997. Nonetheless the expertise and skill of the countries fleet and industry as a whole cannot be questioned. Scottish boats provide around 60 % of the UK’s total catch, with the main activity at remote harbours such as Lochinver, Fraserburgh, Lerwick, Kinlochbervie and Scrabster. Fishing has always been a mainstay of the rural areas of Scotland accompanying farming as an important employer.
A major contrubutor of the Scottish fishing industry is fish processing which accounts for around 50% of total turnover and is the biggest employer within the industry as a whole. An important factor is that it provides work for women in what is mostly a male dominated industry.
The importance of fish processing goes beyond the working ports and harbours of the North abut has also bolstered the economic makeup of the central belt and the South. It is in the South this week which has seen developments helping the regions economy and jobs growth.
St James Smokehouse based in the Annan, Dumfrieshire has seen report strong exports as they prepare to open a new unit which will see 20 jobs created with the strong hope that will double that number once the plant is fully operational. The plant produces smoke salmon products for European and North American markets.
Another operation in the town Scallops Direct, the newly formed Shell fish operation, say they will shortly be recruiting after surviving a choppy start to business. Scallops Direct founder Geoff Tunstall said: “The business has had a bit of a stop-start time, partly due to some stormy weather which meant the boats could not get out and in particular due to a seemingly arbritary block on scallop fishing throughout the UK by the Government which lasted about three weeks in early November.”Scallops Direct offers employment for the long-term unemployed or people disadvantaged through disability, age or mental illness. Looking to add three new workers to the workforce of seven in the coming weeks, Mr Tunstall said: “We hope to shortly introduce value added products such as scallops packed with sauces and herbs and expand into the retail sector.”
jobs in the Scottish fishing industry currently include off shore roles including Crewmen,deck hand,Skipper ,galley man,winchman .Onshore jobs include factory processor,filleter,winkel harvester,cockle picker and picker
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