Fisheries industry sector
Economic Development acts as a link between the council and the fishing and seafood sectors, both onshore and offshore.
The service provides advice and support to fishing and seafood enterprises along with access to information on trade and business development opportunities and structural funding schemes which enable businesses and fisheries dependent communities to adapt to change.
Key facts of Aberdeenshire fishing industry:
- Peterhead is the largest fishing port in Europe and is an important base for servicing a varied range of commercial marine traffic
- Fraserburgh is the UK's principal Nephrops port, it is also the Operations and Maintenance port for the Moray East Offshore Wind Farm and is the coordination centre for the construction phase
- The UK’s only manufacturer of canned seafood products is located in Fraserburgh
- Aberdeenshire ports account for around half of UK fish landings – worth over £240m in 2019
- The seafood processing sector employs around 4000 people in the area, with a further 2000 in fishing and related services
- Around 400 vessels are registered in local ports
The council provides access to information and contacts through the following networks:
- North East Scotland Fisheries Development Partnership, a cross party, cross-sectoral group hosted by Aberdeenshire Council which seeks to provide a communication channel between the wider fisheries industry and political representatives at all levels
- North Sea Commission Marine Resources Group, a transnational local authority partnership, which aims to represent and develop the economic and wider interests of coastal communities around the North Sea
- Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions, a body comprising 150 regions from 24 states across Europe which lobbies for balanced, equitable and sustainable development
Contact us
You can the Economic Development team at econdev@aberdeenshire.gov.uk.