Whiting

The blue whiting is one of Scotland’s lesser-known commercial fish yet has an important value to the Scottish catching and processing sectors.

The blue whiting is an abundant shoaling fish that occurs in deeper water to the west and north of Scotland.  Although a member of the cod family, its habit of swimming in dense shoals in midwater along the continental shelf Isles means that in commercial fishery terms it is classed as a ‘pelagic’ species and placed in the same bracket as herring and mackerel.

For Scottish pelagic fishermen, blue whiting forms an important annual eight-week fishery that generally starts in February. It is particularly important for keeping our onshore pelagic processing facilities busy in what would otherwise be a quiet period when there is no mackerel and herring fishing going on. Currently, blue whiting catches are mainly processed for fishmeal and oil, yet there has been a human consumption market in the recent past, which the Scottish industry is keen to reinvigorate.

The blue whiting fishery was MSC certified in 2016 in a collaboration involving fishermen in Scotland, Ireland, Denmark, France and the Netherlands. Unfortunately, the fishery was not able to be recertified in 2021 due to other coastal states setting their own unilateral quotas outside international agreement. The Scottish Pelagic Sustainability Group is working hard to ensure the fishery is once more MSC certified.