Marine Sector Overview

Marine Sector Overview

Scotland

This section presents an economic overview (where data allows) of the marine sector in the Scottish Solway Firth with changes over the last five years across economic indicators presented in the table below. This is based on the core marine sectors of shipping and transport, sea fisheries and aquaculture, and the ancillary marine sectors of fish processing, defence, energy and sport, recreation, and tourism (Please see the Sport, Recreation, and Tourism section for a definition of Sport, Recreation, and Tourism and caveats within the data).

Source: Business Register and Employment Survey and Annual Business Survey, Scottish Annual Business Statistics

Note:

1) % change is considered over the period 2014 – 2018 for employment and 2014 – 2017 for GVA and turnover (based on latest available data)

2) GVA and turnover have been uprated to 2017 prices using the GDP Deflator

Across the core marine sectors, there has been a decline in employment across the Scottish Solway over the last five years, in particular there has been a notable decline within shipping and transport employment, likely caused by change in data gathering methodology rather than any real change in activity as outlined in Shipping, Transport and Freight Traffic and seen in the figure below, ‘Scottish Solway: Core Marine Sector Employment, 2009 – 2018’.

Scottish Solway: Core Marine Sector Employment 2009- 2018. (Source: Office for National Statistics (Various) (BRES) and Office for National Statistics (Various) (ABS))

Economic activity in the ancillary sectors is dominated by the Sport, Recreation, and Tourism sector where employment has been broadly stable. The decline in 2018 is due to the closure of Young’s Seafood Pinneys of Scotland site in Annan, leading to some 450 job losses, figure below, ‘Scottish Solway: Ancillary Marine Sector Employment, 2009 – 2018’.

Scottish Solway: Ancillary Marine Sector Employment, 2009 – 2018. (Source: Office for National Statistics (Various) (BRES) and Office for National Statistics (Various) (ABS))

Total turnover from core sector marine activities was on an overall upward trend (2009 – 2013), after which there has been a steep decline of almost two-thirds (-63%). As with employment, this likely to be due to a change in data gathering methodology as outlined in Shipping, Transport and Freight Traffic, see figure below, ‘Scottish Solway: Core Marine Sector Turnover, 2009 – 2017’.

Scottish Solway: Core Marine Sector Turnover 2009 – 2017. (Source: Scottish Government (2019). Adjusted to 2017 prices)

Across the ancillary marine sectors, turnover has seen steady growth since 2009 driven by increase in both fish processing and tourism. It should be noted that these figures will not include the closure of Pinneys which occurred in 2018 and which will likely have a considerable negative impact when updated figures are published for 2018, see figure below, ‘Scottish Solway: Ancillary Marine Sector Turnover 2009 – 2017’.

Scottish Solway: Ancillary Marine Sector Turnover 2009 – 2017. (Source: Scottish Government (2019). Adjusted to 2017 prices)

Annual GVA output from core marine activities was broadly stable up to 2015 when there was sharp reduction, see figure below, ‘Scottish Solway: Core Marine Sector GVA, 2009 – 2017’.

Scottish Solway: Core Marine Sector GVA 2009 – 2017. (Source: Scottish Government (2019). Adjusted to 2017 prices)

GVA output across the ancillary sectors has followed a similar trend as turnover – a steady increase over time, see figure below, ‘Scottish Solway: Ancillary Marine Sector GVA 2009 – 2017’.

Scottish Solway: Ancillary Marine Sector GVA 2009 – 2017. (Source: Scottish Government (2019). Adjusted to 2017 prices)

The relationship between turnover and GVA provides a measure of productivity with a high ratio indicating greater productivity. This data, while volatile, indicates an overall increase in productivity likely due to a combination of falling cost of inputs and rising prices for outputs, see figure below, ‘Scottish Solway: Core Marine Sectors GVA to Turnover Ratio 2009 – 2017’.

Scottish Solway: Core Marine Sectors GVA to Turnover Ratio 2009 – 2017. (Source: Scottish Government (2019). Adjusted to 2017 prices)

Across the ancillary sectors, the ratio has been on a broad upward trend, indicating growth in productivity driven by the tourism sector, see figure below, ‘Scottish Solway: Ancillary Marine Sector GVA to Turnover Ratio 2009 – 2017’.

Scottish Solway: Ancillary Marine Sectors GVA to Turnover Ratio 2009 – 2017. (Source: Scottish Government (2019). Adjusted to 2017 prices)

Marine Sector Overview

England

This section presents an economic overview (where data allows) of the marine sector in the English Solway Firth with changes over the last five years across economic indicators presented in the table below. This is based on the core marine sectors of shipping and transport and sea fisheries, and the ancillary marine sectors of fish processing, defence, energy and sport recreation and tourism. (Please see the Sport, Recreation, and Tourism section for a definition of Sport, Recreation, and Tourism and caveats within the data.)

Source: Office for National Statistics (Various) (BRES) and Office for National Statistics (Various) (ABS)

Note:

GVA and turnover have been uprated to 2018 prices using the GDP Deflator

Across the core marine sectors, there has been an overall decline in employment across the English Solway over the last five years, this has been driven by a decline in Shipping and Transport employment, see figure below, ‘English Solway – Core Marine Sector Employment, 2009-2018’.

English Solway- Core Marine Sector Employment, 2009 – 2018. (Source: Office for National Statistics (Various) (BRES) and Office for National Statistics (Various) (ABS))

Employment in the ancillary sector is dominated by the Sport, Recreation, and Tourism sector where employment has been on a slight downward trend, see figure below, ‘English Solway – Ancillary Marine Sector Employment 2009 – 2018’.

English Solway- Ancillary Marine Sector Employment, 2009 – 2018. (Source: Office for National Statistics (Various) (BRES) and Office for National Statistics (Various) (ABS))

Total turnover from core marine sector activities has broadly remained stable, with some fluctuations with peaks of just over £5m in 2010 and 2014, see figure below, ‘English Solway – Core Marine Sector Turnover, 2009 – 2018’. The available data for core marine sector activities is from Sea Fisheries – this is discussed in more detail in the Sea Fisheries section.

English Solway- Core Marine Sector Turnover, 2009 – 2018. (Source: Office for National Statistics (Various) (Bespoke). Adjusted to 2018 prices)

Total turnover from ancillary sector marine activities has been prone to fluctuation, peaking in 2014 and has declined since that time. However, this is entirely down to one sector, which dominates the data: Tourism, Sport and Recreation, see figure below, ‘English Solway – Ancillary Marine Sector Turnover, 2009 – 2018’.

English Solway- Ancillary Marine Sector Turnover, 2009 – 2017. (Source: Office for National Statistics (Various) (Bespoke). Adjusted to 2018 prices)

Annual GVA output from core marine activities was broadly stable over time, albeit with annual variations, with notable spikes in 2010 and 2014, see figure below, ‘English Solway: Core Marine Sector GVA, 2009 – 2018’.

English Solway: Core Marine Sector GVA, 2009 – 2018. (Source: Office for National Statistics (Various) (Bespoke). Adjusted to 2018 prices)

GVA for the ancillary marine sector increased each year to 2013, peaked in 2015, and has experienced a decline in each year since, see figure below, ‘English Solway – Ancillary Marine Sector GVA, 2009 – 2018’.

English Solway- Ancillary Marine Sector GVA, 2009 – 2018. (Source: Office for National Statistics (Various) (Bespoke). Adjusted to 2018 prices)

The relationship between turnover and GVA provides a measure of productivity with a high ratio indicating greater productivity. The data indicates that productivity in the core marine sector has been broadly steady, see figure below, ‘English Solway – Core Marine Sector GVA to Turnover Ratio, 2009 – 2018′.

English Solway – Core Marine Sector GVA to Turnover Ratio, 2009 – 2018. (Source: Office for National Statistics (Various) (Bespoke). Adjusted to 2018 prices)

Across the ancillary sectors, the ratio has fluctuated – albeit from a fairly low base, indicating the typically lower value of jobs in the tourism sector, see figure below, ‘English Solway – Ancillary Marine Sector GVA to Turnover Ratio, 2009 – 2018’.

English Solway – Ancillary Marine Sector GVA to Turnover Ratio, 2009 – 2018. (Source: Office for National Statistics (Various) (Bespoke). Adjusted to 2018 prices)