UK sea fisheries annual statistics
Source: gov.uk (2025-12-02)

These annual figures provide a broad picture of the UK fishing industry and its operations.

Delay to Sea Fisheries Statistics 2024

MMO, on behalf of the UK Fisheries Authorities identified some data quality concerns, specifically related to the Catch Recording data included, or used to produce data, in this release. In order to have enough time to appropriately quality assure the new technical solution for the under-10m vessel data, we have decided on a short delay to the publication of the Sea Fisheries Statistics 2024. For further information, please see the following notice (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-sea-fisheries-statistics-catch-recording-data-statistical-quality-assessment).

The Sea Fisheries Statistics 2024 will be further delayed following the identification of quality concerns with Scottish fishing activity data supplied to MMO. Additional time is required to ensure corrected data are accurately included in the publication.

The Sea Fisheries Statistics 2024 will now be released on 2 December 2025.

Further information about the impact of these data quality concerns will be included in the Sea Fisheries Statistics 2024 publication. This publication will include revisions to data for under-10m vessels for 2024 and 2025 to date, as set out in the Catch Recording data quality assessment.

Publication of the Monthly Sea Fisheries Statistics – October 2025 will also be delayed and will be published on 2 December 2025. This is to align with the publication of revisions made following the data quality assessment of Catch Recording data.

UK Sea Fisheries Statistics Update

The Sea Fisheries Statistics 2023 is the first MMO statistical release to be published after the temporary suspension (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-sea-fisheries-statistics-update) of the accredited official statistics designation. The temporary action was confirmed on 3 December 2024, following a request from the MMO Chief Statistician to the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR).

We remain committed to making the Sea Fisheries Statistics data available, with additional guidance for users about how to make best use of these data. These statistics remain the best available data and are still considered a reliable measure of industry activity at an overall (UK) level.

The publications include information on:
- the structure and activity of the UK fishing industry
- landings
- supplies, overseas trade and marketing
- main stocks and their level of exploitation
- the world fishing industry
UK Sea Fisheries Statistics archive (pre-2012) is available online (http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20140507202222/http://www.marinemanagement.org.uk/fisheries/statistics/annual_archive.htm).

Additional information

User consultation

The 2009 edition of United Kingdom Sea Fisheries Statistics introduces a number of changes to the format, quality and content of the publication based on user consultation (http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20140507202222/http://www.marinemanagement.org.uk/fisheries/statistics/documents/ukseafish/additional/user_consultation.pdf) that took place in February 2010.

Special note

Information relating specifically to the 2009 version of United Kingdom Sea Fisheries Statistics is provided. This document (http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20140507202222/http://www.marinemanagement.org.uk/fisheries/statistics/documents/ukseafish/additional/special_note.pdf) includes changes based on the user consultation.

Table of species

This table provides a list of species included in United Kingdom Sea Fisheries Statistics. Species are classified by group. The species code and Latin name are also provided. Where there is a group title, the species included within the group are listed. For example, ‘Oysters’ is a group title used in UK Sea Fisheries Statistics and species included in this group are:
- Excel version (http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20140507202222/http://www.marinemanagement.org.uk/fisheries/statistics/documents/ukseafish/additional/species.xls)
- PDF version (http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20140507202222/http://www.marinemanagement.org.uk/fisheries/statistics/documents/ukseafish/additional/species.pdf)
The Marine Management Organisation follows all Defra statistical policies (https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-environment-food-rural-affairs/about/statistics#corporate-procedures-and-standards).