Changing balance of fish production in Scotland

The last two decades have seen substantial changes in fish production in Scotland, with the rise of shell fish and farmed salmon to be important production sectors beside the established sectors of demersal and pelagic fish. In conventional fisheries conservation programmes based on scientific advice have become a permanent part of the organisation, while the expansion of fish farming has been essentially founded on systematic scientific investigation. The changing pattern and balance of production has been functionally related to developments in processing, transport and marketing of fish. Central to this has been the expansion of fish freezing, which maintains food value to the best effect for the consumer.