Inside Shetland's seafood industry

Down at the pier in Lerwick, the fish market is getting into its stride. Boats come alongside the quay, boxes are craned ashore, and the market floor fills with what Norma Williamson of Shetland Seafood Auctions describes as “neat rows of glistening fish”. A team of “lumpers” moves at pace, sorting the catch by species and size, ready for sale.

It happens every time a vessel lands, at any hour of the day or night.

It's a scene most visitors to Shetland never see, and it's the beating heart of one of the biggest and best seafood industries in the UK – and, arguably, in northern Europe.

If you picture fishing as a small, traditional affair, the numbers will surprise you. Shetland's fleet accounts for around a third of Scotland's pelagic vessels and a third of its whitefish fleet, with a tenth of the country's shellfish boats and over 40 per cent of its inshore mackerel fleet based here too.

“For a community of our size, that's extraordinary,” says Sheila Keith of the Shetland Fishermen's Association.

Here's a mind-blowing statistic: Shetland's waters make up only about 17 per cent of the UK sea area, yet they produce roughly a third of the UK's fish catch.

Just as striking is who owns it all. The fleet remains in the hands of Shetlanders.

“It's a network of self-employed fishermen, part-owners who directly benefit from every catch,” says Sheila. And while fleets elsewhere struggle to recruit, around eight per cent of Shetland's whitefish crews are under 21. Fishing here has a future, not just a past.

As Sheila says: “The sea is as much home to us as the land”.

Fishing may be the industry's oldest chapter, but aquaculture – fish farming – is one of its biggest. Shetland's 44 marine farms produced 42,000 tonnes of salmon in 2024. It's an impressive number, representing a fifth of Scotland's entire production with a farmgate value of £230 million.

The sector directly employs 410 people at an average salary of more than £40,000, and Scottish Sea Farms is Shetland's largest private sector employer. Add 300-plus local supply chain businesses, £70 million a year spent in the Shetland economy and a further 1,200 people indirectly employed, and the scale becomes clear.

It's also an industry that has matured. Forty years ago, Shetland salmon farming was as many as 70 separate companies; today it has consolidated to two. Where feeding fish was once a manual job in all weathers, farm teams now sit in offices on the quayside, monitoring sea pens through underwater cameras and AI technology.

“A happy fish is a growing fish,” says Tavish Scott, chief executive of Salmon Scotland – and much of that sixty-year-old industry's progress has been learning exactly what keeps fish healthy.

Then there are the mussels.

Shetland produces around 85 per cent of Scotland's mussels, so if you order Scottish mussels anywhere, chances are they grew in a Shetland voe.

“Harvesting from the sea is in Shetlanders' blood,” says Ruth Henderson of Seafood Shetland, who credits the sector's success to generations of accumulated skill and to natural conditions that are close to perfect: cool, clean, nutrient-rich water with good tidal flow in sheltered voes.

Because mussels are filter feeders, the sea itself becomes the ingredient. As Ruth puts it, “the quality of our sea equals the quality of the finished product”. Plump mussels prized for their flavour, appearing on menus across the UK, Europe and the Middle East.

It is no coincidence that one of Scotland's few oyster farms is in Shetland.

Follow the fish from quayside to plate, and you find an entire economy. Across Shetland, fishing sustains over 450 jobs directly and many more besides: processors employing hundreds, net makers, engineers, fuel suppliers, hauliers and more, with skilled, year-round jobs helping to sustain the shops, garages and services that island life depends on.

“Every landing supports dozens of local businesses,” says Sheila. “Fishing is a cornerstone of Shetland's economic resilience, and we should never take it for granted.”

There's innovation here too. Shetland Seafood Auctions has run an electronic auction since 2003 – a ‘Dutch auction’ where the price starts high and drops until a buyer stops the clock.

“It is a fair, transparent and fast-moving system that helps fishermen secure the best possible price for their catch,” says Norma. Buyers don't need to be standing on the market floor: they can bid in real time from the UK mainland, Spain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and beyond.

Part of the auction’s success is based on the quality of fish landed in Shetland.

“Buyers know what they are getting,” says Norma. “That trust has been built over many years.”

Fishing, farming, shellfish, processing, services: it's tempting to treat them as separate stories, but Shetlanders don't.

As Tavish Scott observes, it's the combination that makes Shetland one of the world's centres of seafood excellence. Every April, premium products from the isles feature at Seafood Expo Global in Barcelona, the world's largest seafood trade show.

The world's population is growing, and the demand for quality protein with it. “The outlook for seafood and salmon from Shetland is positive and strong,” says Tavish.

“Fishing is part of the fabric of Shetland life,” says Norma. “It supports jobs at sea and ashore… and keeps knowledge, pride and opportunity within our communities.”

It has done for generations. Everything suggests it will for generations more.