The traditional January mackerel fishery for the Scottish fleet has now drawn to a close, with the significantly reduced quota for 2026 limiting activity.
According to Richard Williamson, co-skipper of the Shetland vessel Research, the scientific stock advice did not seem to correspond with the reality on the fishing grounds, with good marks of mackerel encountered.
“We did three trips fishing mainly to the west and south-west of Foula and encountered plenty of fish,” he said. “Many of the fish were good-sized, but there were also plenty of smaller fish about, which boats tried to avoid, and which bodes well for the future by indicating there is good recruitment.
“On one trip, we scoured an area for several hours with no sign of any mackerel, then suddenly as if out of nowhere, large shoals appeared. This highlights the difficulty in obtaining accurate results during scientific surveys where fish can easily be missed.”
Richard added: “Whitefish boats were also detecting good quantities of mackerel on their fish finding equipment when fishing in the area.”
The Altaire, Charisma and Serene also set sail for the fishery, but the rest of the Shetland mackerel fleet have opted to take their quota later in the year. However, virtually all the Peterhead and Fraserburgh fleet put to sea in January to catch some of their 2026 allocation.
The Fraserburgh-based Resolute managed two trips, making one landing into Shetland and the other into Norway. Co-skipper Ally West said the fish were good-sized, generally ranging between 370gms and 480gms, which appealed to the market.
“The fishing was good and it was really encouraging to see there was plenty of mackerel about,” he said.
At the end of February, the Resolute will head out for a single trip to the waters off the Lofoten Islands, Norway, to fish for its small quota of Atlanto-Scandian herring.
Ally West said: “The fishing last year for Atlanto-Scandian herring was good. Atlanto-Scandian herring can be challenging to catch when in deeper water because of the way the fish disperse, so the Resolute targets the fish off the Lofoten Islands when they are over shallow banks.”
Some other Scottish boats will also shortly steam to waters west of Ireland to participate in the start of blue whiting fishery, which generally wraps up by early April. The next major pelagic fishery will be for MSC certified North Sea herring, which will commence in mid-summer, with the autumn mackerel fishery following thereafter.