A joint campaign by Lerwick Port Authority and Shetland Islands Council aims to encourage more fishing skippers to land catches to the Lerwick and Scalloway fish markets.
The Land in Shetland campaign comes with a series of promotional videos and a dedicated website.
‘At the centre of prolific fishing grounds, Shetland has clear advantages for the catching sector in landing here,’ said Lerwick Port Authority chief executive Captain Calum Grains.
‘With better times in prospect, it is important to remind the industry of the benefits of using our state-of-the-art markets which also reflect our commitment to its future.’
The Land in Shetland campaigh highlights that at this time of high fuel prices, there are clearly significant cost and carbon footprint savings to be made from landing in Shetland, while the new fish markets in Lerwick and Scalloway have substantially increased daily landing capacity and the modern infrastructure, including its efficient chilling, ensuring best quality of produce is maintained.
More than half of all the fish landed in the UK comes from within 100 nautical miles of Shetland, and with such first-class facilities and support services available, it makes clear sense to land in Shetland.
‘Shetland Islands Council has recently invested in a new fishmarket at Scalloway, demonstrating our long-term commitment to the fishing industry in the heart of the North Sea fishing grounds,’ commented Councillor Robert Thomson, Chair of the SIC Harbour Board.
‘The modern fish markets at Lerwick and Scalloway now offer fishing vessels a commercially attractive location to land their catches. Land in Shetland and you’ll save time and fuel. The electronic auction means that you can achieve excellent prices too.’
