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Fishing communities in Scotland

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Aberdeen
Aberdeen is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeenshire, but is now separate from the council area of Aberdeenshire. Aberdeen City Council is one of Scotland's 32 local authorities (commonly referred to as councils). Aberdeen has a population of for the main urban area and for the wider settlement including outlying localities, making it the United Kingdom's 39th most populous built-up area. Aberdeen has a long, sandy coastline and features an oceanic climate, with cool summers and mild
Ayr
Ayr ( ; ; meaning "confluence of the River Àir") is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. A former royal burgh, today it is the administrative centre of South Ayrshire Council, and the historic county town of Ayrshire. With a population of 46,982, Ayr is the 15th largest settlement in Scotland and second largest town in Ayrshire by population. The town is contiguous with the smaller town of Prestwick to the north. Ayr submitted unsuccessful bids for city status in 2000 and 2002, and as part of the wider South Ayrshire area in 2022.
Kirkwall
Kirkwall (, , or ; ; ) is the largest town in Orkney, an archipelago to the north of mainland Scotland. First mentioned in the Orkneyinga saga, it is today the location of the headquarters of the Orkney Islands Council and a transport hub with ferries to many locations. It is the centre of the St Magnus International Festival and is also a popular stopping off point for cruise ships. St Magnus Cathedral stands at the heart of the town.
Lerwick
Lerwick is the main town and port of the Shetland archipelago, Scotland. Shetland's only burgh, Lerwick had a population of about 7,000 residents in 2010. It is the northernmost major settlement within the United Kingdom.
Stornoway
Stornoway is the main town, and by far the largest, of the Outer Hebrides, and the capital of Lewis and Harris in Scotland.
Òban
Oban ( ; meaning The Little Bay) is a resort town within the Argyll and Bute council area of Scotland. Despite its small size, it is the largest town between Helensburgh and Fort William. During the tourist season, the town can have a temporary population of up to over 24,000 people. Oban occupies a setting in the Firth of Lorn. The bay forms a near perfect horseshoe, protected by the island of Kerrera; and beyond Kerrera, the Isle of Mull. To the north are the long low island of Lismore and the mountains of Morvern and Ardgour.
Stromness
Stromness (, ; ) is the second-most populous town in Orkney, Scotland. It is in the southwestern part of Mainland, Orkney. It is a burgh with a parish around the outside with the town of Stromness as its capital.
Stonehaven
Stonehaven ( ) is a town on the northeast coast of Scotland, south of Aberdeen. It had a population of 11,177 at the 2022 Census.
Campbeltown
Campbeltown (; or ) is a town and former royal burgh in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It lies by Campbeltown Loch on the Kintyre Peninsula. Campbeltown became an important centre for Scotch whisky, and a busy fishing port.
Wick
town and royal burgh in Caithness, Highland, Scotland, UK
Ullapool
Ullapool (; ) is a village and port located in the civil parish of Lochbroom in the county of Ross and Cromarty, Scottish Highlands. It is located around northwest of Inverness. According to the Scottish Government in 2016, the village had a population of 1,520 people, making it the largest settlement in Wester Ross.
Portree
Portree (; , ) is the capital and largest town of the Isle of Skye in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. It is a civil parish and lies within the Highland council area, around from its administrative centre of Inverness.
Peterhead
Peterhead (; , ) is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is the largest settlement in the council area, with a population of 19,060 at the 2022 Census. It is the busiest fishing port in the United Kingdom for total landings by UK vessels, according to a 2019 survey.
Arbroath
Arbroath () or Aberbrothock ( ) is a former royal burgh and the largest town in the council area of Angus, Scotland, with a population of 23,902. It lies on the North Sea coast, some east-northeast of Dundee and south-southwest of Aberdeen.
Banff
town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, UK
Mallaig
Mallaig (; ) is a port in Morar, on the west coast of the Highlands of Scotland. It faces Skye from across the Sound of Sleat. The local railway station is the terminus of the West Highland Line (Fort William and Mallaig branch), and the town is linked to Fort William by the A830 road – the "Road to the Isles".
Tobermory
town on the Isle of Mull, Scotland, United Kingdom
Fraserburgh
Fraserburgh (; ), locally known as the Broch, is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, with a population recorded in the 2011 Census as 13,100. It lies in Buchan in the northeastern corner of the county, about north of Aberdeen and north of Peterhead. It is the biggest shellfish port in Scotland and one of the largest in Europe, landing over in 2016. Fraserburgh is also a major port for white and pelagic fish.
Papa Stour
island of the Shetland Islands, Scotland, UK
Scalloway
Scalloway (, name of the bay) is the largest settlement on the west coast of the Mainland, the largest island of the Shetland, Scotland. The village had a population of roughly 900, at the 2011 census. Now a fishing port, until 1708 it was the capital of the Shetland Islands (now Lerwick, on the east coast of the Shetland Mainland). It contains one of the two castles built in Shetland; this one was constructed in 1600. Nearby are the Scalloway Islands, which derive their name from the village.
Lossiemouth
Lossiemouth () is a town in Moray, Scotland. Originally the port belonging to Elgin, it became an important fishing town. Although there has been over 1,000 years of settlement in the area, the present day town was formed over the past 250 years and consists of four separate communities that eventually merged into one. From 1890 to 1975, it was a police burgh as Lossiemouth and Branderburgh.
Anstruther
Anstruther ( ; or Ànsruthair) is a coastal town in Fife, Scotland, situated on the north-shore of the Firth of Forth and south-southeast of St Andrews. The town comprises two settlements, Anstruther Easter and Anstruther Wester, which are divided by a stream, the Dreel Burn. With a population of 3,500, it is the largest community on the Firth of Forth's north-shore coastline known as the East Neuk. To the east, it merges with the village of Cellardyke.
Out Skerries
archipelago in Shetland, Scotland
Eyemouth
Eyemouth () is a town and civil parish in Berwickshire, in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. It is east of the main north–south A1 road and north of Berwick-upon-Tweed.
Buckie
Buckie () is a burgh town (defined as such in 1888) on the Moray Firth coast of Scotland. Historically in Banffshire, Buckie was the largest town in the county until the administrative area was abolished in 1975. The town is the third largest in the Moray council area after Elgin and Forres and within the definitions of statistics published by the General Register Office for Scotland was ranked at number 75 in the list of population estimates for settlements in Scotland mid-year 2006. Buckie is virtually equidistant to Banff to the east and Elgin to the west, with both approximately distant wh
Cockenzie and Port Seton
unified town in East Lothian, Scotland, UK
Macduff
town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, UK
Scrabster
Scrabster () is a small settlement on Thurso Bay in Caithness on the north coast of Scotland. It is some from Thurso, from Wick, from Inverness and 271.7 miles (437.2 km) from Edinburgh. Scrabster Harbour is an important port for the Scottish fishing industry.
Buckhaven
Buckhaven is a town on the east coast of Fife, Scotland, on the Firth of Forth between East Wemyss and Methil. Buckhaven is on the Fife Coastal Path, and near to Wemyss Caves and Largo Bay.
Lochinver
Lochinver (Loch an Inbhir in Gaelic) is a village at the head of the sea loch Loch Inver, on the coast in the Assynt district of Sutherland, Highland, Scotland. A few miles north-east is Loch Assynt which is the source of the River Inver which flows into Loch Inver at the village. There are 200 or so lochans in the area, popular with anglers. Lochinver is dominated by the "sugar loaf" shape of Caisteal Liath, the summit peak of nearby Suilven.
Symbister
Symbister is the largest village and port on Whalsay, an island in the Shetland archipelago of Scotland. The population in 1991 was 797. The focus of the village is the harbour, which is home to small fishing boats as well as large deep sea trawlers. The village is overlooked by the granite mansion Symbister House, built by the Sixth Robert Bruce of Symbister in 1823. The harbour is also known by the names Bay Of Symbister, Symbister Harbour and Symbister Old Harbour.
Kinlochbervie
Kinlochbervie (, ) is a scattered harbour village in the north west of Sutherland, in the Highland region of Scotland. It is the most northerly port on the west coast of Scotland.
Leverburgh
Leverburgh is the second largest village, after Tarbert, in Harris in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. Leverburgh is within the parish of Harris. In 1971 it had a population of 223.
Pittenweem
Pittenweem ( ) is a fishing village and civil parish in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 1,747.
Cullivoe
Cullivoe (Old Norse: Kollavágr - Bay of Kolli), is a village on Yell in the Shetland Islands. It is in the north east of the island, near Bluemull Sound, not far from Unst.
Newhaven
district of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
Crovie
thumb|Crovie Crovie is a small village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, dating from the 18th century, a time when the sea was the only mode of transport to and from Scotland's shores. The smallest and most remote of Buchan cliff-foot fishing villages, it comprises a single row of houses, most gable-end to the sea. (Number 9 has Peter Johnstone, 1789 cut into it.)
Pierowall
Pierowall is a village of Westray in the Orkney Islands, off the coast of the northern Scottish mainland. The village is the island's largest settlement and lies near its northern end, around Pierowall Bay. It has a variety of historical remains dating from the Neolithic, the Iron Age, the Middle Ages, and later, including a large pagan Norse cemetery. In 1961 it had a population of 108.
Ronas Voe
bay on North Mainland, Shetland Islands, Scotland, UK