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The Herald Scotland
25-05-2025
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
Choppy seas ahead for Scotland's largest fishing port
It's a trade which can be lucrative — the industry brought in £265 million to the port last year. Yet, it's one which is increasingly under threat. The news that the UK had agreed to a new trade deal with the European Union on Monday has been met with mixed reactions. The wide-ranging deal will eliminate the majority of border checks on agricultural exports, allow British holiday makers to use European e-passport gates, and link the EU and UK's carbon markets. Yet, it will also extend the status quo — allowing EU fishing boats to operate in Scottish waters for the next 12 years. That's a decision which has proven controversial among the fish catchers and processors of the 'Blue Toon'. Peterhead Port landed more than 200,000 tonnes of fish last year. (Image: Josh Pizzuto-Pomaco) Peterhead is the closest thing I have to home in Scotland. It's where my mum and family live. So, on a warm Wednesday afternoon, I set out to have a look myself. Parking my car along the harbour wall, I'm reminded of my first visit to the town four years ago. I particularly remember the fishy smell, a visceral reminder of how important the industry is to the people of the region. I walk across the Queenie Bridge to Peterhead's North Harbour. Lunar Fishing, Freezing, and Cold Storage; Jackson Trawls Marine Store; GT Seafoods — evidence of the fishing industry is immediately evident. The port hosts hundreds, if not thousands, of workers; from the iconic Peterhead Fish Market to the scores of small boats which bob in the blue water behind me. Peterhead has a bit of a reputation in North East circles, one which is completely undeserved in my opinion. It is a rough and tumble place, to be sure, but is also home to some of the kindest (and yes, brutally honest) people in Scotland. The Queenie Bridge in Peterhead. (Image: Josh Pizzuto-Pomaco) I speak to a few in the town centre. 'I've seen the headlines, but I haven't looked at the proposals in much detail', a kindly older man, rucksack, in tow, tells me. 'You should go down to the Fishermen's Mission', he adds. 'Definitely go down to Wetherspoons, there are always lots of retired fishermen around there', another pensioner advises. I speak to Jimmy Buchan, a fisherman of forty years who now owns and operates the Amity Fish Company. He's the closest you get to a celebrity in this close-knit town of 20,000, appearing in the BAFTA-winning series Trawlerman, which aired on BBC One between 2006 and 2010. 'It's a bittersweet feeling', he says as his broad Doric brogue crackles through my mobile. 'I now work on the fish processing side of things, but for years, I was involved in catching fish in the North Sea. 'Sure, this deal will make things easier for fish processors, but it will be incredibly damaging to our fishermen.' Jimmy Buchan is the 'skipper' at Amity Fish Company (Image: Amity Fish Company).Buchan tells me that fishermen and women in the region feel betrayed, by one government after another. 'This was the one part of Brexit which was going to benefit us', he notes. 'Scottish fishermen were supposed to have control over their own waters. But now, that is being taken away. 'I was with John Swinney the other day and he told me that the Scottish Government hadn't been consulted at all before the decision was taken.' Buchan says the length of the deal was also a surprise. 'Twelve years is such a long time. I'll be retired by then. I'd understand a deal for two or three years, but twelve is incredibly long.' However, not all local business owners have taken such a dismal view of the deal. Sinclair Banks, the boss over at Lunar, tells me over email: 'You could quote the comment of the French Fishing Chief; 'We couldn't have hoped for better'. 'That's all that needs to be said.' Read more from Josh Pizzuto-Pomaco: 'Our community is being attacked': Queer Glaswegians to call out Israel during Pride Church of Scotland reaffirms assisted dying stance after 'emotional' debate Scottish 'pipeline pilgrims' cycle 170 miles to highlight carbon capture fears Aberdeen City Council's £1m law bill revealed amidst spate of legal challenges Indeed, for fish processors, the deal is a boon. It will allow seafood to be exported to the continent with greater ease and less cost. Buchan says this still isn't enough. 'Any advantages gained by the fish processing industry will be greatly outweighed by the damage it will do to our fishermen.' 'It feels like Peterhead is being sold out once again.' Conservative Matthew James represents the town on Aberdeenshire Council. He echoed Buchan's comments, telling me: 'Needless to say it was bitterly disappointing to hear the Prime Minister trade away 12 years of our fishing industry. 'This government is persistently letting down our region, I hear of concerns on what the future holds for Peterhead. 'The continued attack on oil and gas jobs, reluctance to commit to future plans for carbon capture & storage and now this news for our fishermen. I too worry what will be left for our town.' Crates laden with tackle for fishing boats at Peterhead Harbour. (Image: Josh Pizzuto-Pomaco) The UK government has defended the trade deal. A statement read: '[This] new 12-year agreement protects Britain's fishing access, fishing rights and fishing areas with no increase in the amount of fish EU vessels can catch in British waters, providing stability and certainty for the sector.' The government has also pledged to invest £360m into the fishing industry, which they say will pay for 'new technology and equipment to modernise the fleet, training to help upskill the workforce, and funding to help revitalise coastal communities, support tourism and boost seafood exports'. Back in Peterhead, I continue my walk through the town centre, a route I've grown to know well. I pass Zanre's Fish and Chips, Ewan Morrice Quality Butcher, and Hame Bakery. I pause at the Fisher Jessie statue, across from the Royal Bank of Scotland at the top of Queen Street. The life-size bronze statue, which depicts a 'fish-wife' holding a basket laden with seafood, celebrates the important role of women in the industry. Even now, amidst the changing tides, it remains a poignant symbol of the importance of fishing to this community. Indeed, the sea has sustained Peterhead through the long march of time, weathering tempests, wars, and deindustrialisation. One can only hope it continues to do so.
Press and Journal
17-05-2025
- General
- Press and Journal
Peterhead trawlerman Jimmy Buchan on bringing hunter's instinct to business
Jimmy Buchan became a household name in the mid-2000s as one of the stars of the BBC Trawlermen, the hard-hitting documentary that offered a rare glimpse into life aboard the North Sea's fishing fleet. As viewers watched him battle fierce storms in search of the perfect catch, Jimmy became, for many, the face of Scottish fishing – much loved for his grit and good humour. But long before the cameras rolled, and long after they stopped, Jimmy was a mainstay of Peterhead: the skipper of his own trawler, a familiar figure in Europe's largest whitefish port, and a lifelong advocate of the industry he entered at just 14 years old. Today, at 64, he's still immersed in the trade – though no longer at sea. Jimmy now runs Amity Fish Company, a quayside business supplying premium Scottish seafood to customers across the UK and internationally. It's a different kind of challenge, he admits, but for a man who spent his life chasing the next catch, the competitive instinct remains sharp. 'My body clock still wakes me up at 5.30am every day,' he says. 'When you were fishing, you had to get your nets in the water, the hunt was on. 'But now it's a slightly different time, the hunt is the customer – and persuading them your fish is better than everyone else's. 'Every day is a new day. You just don't know what's going to happen, so you've got to be on your game and ready, poised.' Born and raised in the tight-knit coastal village of Buchanhaven, some of Jimmy's fondest early memories are of casting creels with his father. 'I always had that hunter instinct,' he recalls. 'That you can throw a creel and get a crab or a lobster; that progressed to getting out with the inshore fleet and going to haul hundreds of creels.' By 16, he'd left school and stepped aboard full time, a young lad plunged into the harsh world of offshore fishing. 'It was a man's world and by God was that a reality change,' he says. 'Leaving mother's apron strings to then being in a crew of eight burly men who didn't do sympathy and who didn't take kindly to you being seasick. 'That first big wave that hits the boat, you'd never seen anything like it in your life, the crew just laughing it off. 'You very quickly realised that the best way to get on the right side of this is work hard, put your head down, don't speak back and integrate into that regime and become one of the crew. 'It was a bit like piracy: walk the plank or join the crew. You choose.' By his twenties, Jimmy was skippering his own vessel, hauling langoustines, haddock and monkfish from deepwater grounds like Ooze Hole and Devil's Hole, often in brutal conditions. As skipper, he knows what it is to face judgement at sea, but nothing beat the thrill of hauling that perfect catch. 'Over the years you gain skills and knowledge and confidence, and you make good decisions,' he says. 'When you get that good catch, your crew think you're a hero, but when you pull up in the morning and there's very little there, they know they're not going to get paid. 'You're not so much a hero then, more of a villain. So you've got to win the hearts and minds of your crew back, when you do it's very satisfying.' In 2005 Jimmy caught the attention of BBC producers. They were scouting for a new show inspired by the success of The Deadliest Catch, an American series about crab fishermen, and were quickly drawn by Jimmy's obvious passion for the industry. He soon became the face of Trawlermen, and what he thought would be a short documentary became blockbuster television. 'I did not think I would be headlining primetime television on a national television channel,' Jimmy admits. 'It was a surreal time. 'We played our part, but the real skill was in turning mundane footage into a narrative that got people hooked.' While Trawlermen introduced the public to the personalities behind Scotland's fishing industry, it also showed the challenges it faced. But Jimmy is sanguine about talk of over-fishing in the North Sea. 'I was able to fish in it for 40 years and make each year profitable,' he says. 'I think we've got to accept at some point the fish keep turning up year after year, so we must be fishing sustainably.' Nevertheless, the catch has changed – less cod and haddock and more squid, langoustine and monkfish – and the industry has contracted. 'Efficiency drives down the size if industry, but that is not unusual across any sector. As much as we don't like change as humans, we've got to accept there's still as much fish being landed.' In fact, there have been record fish landings at Peterhead in the past year, with £257 million in catches traded across the quayside up to November. If there's one thing that gets Jimmy on his soapbox, it's the nation's diet. 'It's for the government of the day to wake up and realise that this is generational change we need,' he says. 'We were a great fish-eating nation. 'We look at our European counterparts and they continue to be great seafood-eating nations whilst we in Scotland have got some serious health issues that we need to deal with. 'Our eating habit is not what it probably should be for an island nation surrounded by the richest fishing grounds in the world.' Amity Fish Company has now grown to employ 10 people has very much become a family affair. His eldest daughter Gemma has joined the business full-time. 'Although I didn't have a son in succession at sea, it very much looks like there's a daughter in succession onshore,' he says. 'It's exciting. Now it's about passing on the knowledge – everything I've learned about fishing and the fishing industry – and learning from her about the modern business world.' Reflecting on his journey, Jimmy offers advice to those starting out: 'It's tough, but stay focused and driven. 'I remember when people laughed at me because all I wanted to do was learn about fishing and dedicate my life to fishing. 'You can't buy success, wisdom, or experience. They come from being focused, driven and enthusiastic.' For Jimmy it's all about finding joy in your work: 'If you are not enjoying it, don't do it. It's one of those things that's got to reward you because you've got to get up the next day and go out and do it all over again.'
