North Shields Fish Quay Company was established in 1993 as a not-for-profit organisation with a remit of overseeing all fisheries related activities at the port of North Shields.
North Shields is the busiest and most important fishing port on the East Coast of England. Whilst other traditional fishing ports such as Scarborough, Whitby, Grimsby and Hull have lost almost all of their fleet, North Shields continues to flourish. This is mainly down to the success of the Farne Deep Nephrops fishery, a winter fishery which attracts up to 100 visiting trawlers each year. The visiting fleet is made up of predominantly Scottish and Northern Irish vessels, however we also have visitors from the Netherlands and Denmark each year. This is in addition to the local fleet of 30 vessels who operate out of North Shields throughout the year.
Nephrops (or Scampi, Langoustine and Dublin Bay Prawns to most people) are an extremely important species for UK fisheries. They contribute the largest amount by value to the overall UK fishing sector, and most of the Nephrops caught on our coast are landed at North Shields.
As well as Nephrops there is a large quantity of whitefish and flatfish species landed at North Shields throughout the year. All fish landed at North Shields is auctioned on our Fish Market, which runs on Mon-Fri throughout the year. In total there was 1476 tonnes of fish and shellfish landed at North Shields in 2015, with an overall value of over £5m. Please see our 'Facilities' page for a detailed breakdown of quantities landed in 2015.