SFO History
The Scottish Fishermen's Organisation was recognised as a producers' organisation in 1973, following the United Kingdom's accession to the then European Economic Community.
According to European legislation, producers' organisation should undertake 2 main functions:
- the marketing of their members' catches
- the management of fisheries subject to quota arrangements
Apart
from its direct marketing activities, the Organisation implements
the EU price support scheme for fish. An essential part of
this scheme is the grading of fish according to size and quality
criteria.
The Organisation now manages the fishing activities of its members in all fisheries making it one of the largest fisheries managers in Europe.
The members of the Organisation catch all
types of fish including pelagic species (herring, mackerel,
sprats), demersal species (cod, haddock, saithe, whiting,
plaice, megrims, monkfish, sole, skate, turbot and other bottom
feeding fish) and shellfish (crabs, lobsters, nephrops, scallops
and shrimps).
In 2003, the Organisation's members landed 157,956 tonnes
of all kinds of fish.